


Semper Fi / Mea Culpa

by Inkspill



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Blood and Gore, Demons and Angels, Detective!Jack Morrison, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Priest!Gabriel Reyes, Will tag more as soon as I get deeper in this fic, basically how it went, bros can I just get summa uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh priest gabe in an occult detective fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-07 19:06:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21463018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkspill/pseuds/Inkspill
Summary: Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.As familiar yet unknown entities roam and blending in humanity, something within a mere mortal can change if they were encountered, and Father Gabriel Reyes is one changed man, and he'd protect humanity with all that he has.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Original Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kindreds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindreds/gifts).

> my desire to finally start writing an occult detective fiction + my love for my friend = this goddamn fic

Blood. That was the first thing Gabriel Reyes saw and smelled when he arrived at the crime scene from the elevator.

Chief Detective Jack Morrison gave him a call late at night; the street lamps barely illuminated the roads that the night swallowed whole with darkness under the starless sky of Los Angeles. It was the usual in the renowned City of Angels, where Gabriel lives. The lavish landmarks and towering hotels surrounding them, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to him. The scene of the crime was, after all, in a penthouse, in the minibar decorated with bottles and bottles of whiskey and wine, and the glass wall that oversees the city broke, more than large enough for someone to jump out. The bottles were shattered and the alcoholic liquids all mixed on the marbled flooring with the blood of the poor victim whose stomach was torn that his guts spilled, both of his legs forcefully pulled from him, and there was still a terrified look on his face. 

The pungent smell coming from the amalgamation of the insides, blood, and alcohol brought back memories at the back of Gabriel’s head, and he can’t help but wince when he got a whiff of it, he used the sleeves of his clerical cassock to keep the stench for a second until his nose adjusted.

“I see why you decided to call me,” he murmured to Jack who he stood next to as they watched the forensics team take photos and any evidence in the penthouse. The two of them can see some of the new members of the police force lurching at the sight of the victim and the crime scene. “You think this has something to do with my expertise.”

“You’re not wrong.” Jack crossed his arms, it was then Gabriel noticed the bloodstain on his trench coat. Sighing, he continued, “he managed to call the police before he… before I saw him like that.” He glanced at the priest. “I saw it, you know. Big… thing, it was… God… no one’s going to believe me if I tell them I saw a monster kill that man...”

“Hey, hey,” Gabriel led Jack back into the foldable chairs the police has set up. He pat his back, “look, I believe you. No man’s capable of pulling somebody’s limbs out like that.”

“Gabe, you know I’m no holy man, but remembering how it looked when it saw me while tearing the man’s limbs...” Jack turned back to the victim, taking a deep breath. “Poor bastard… There’s no way I could have fought back even if I tried.”

“It was a smart move that you didn’t fight back.” The priest smirked, “look at that, you did something smart, Morrison. I’m surprised. I would have thought you’d dive headfirst trying to save someone even if you’re facing a demon.”

A small chuckle got out of Jack’s lips. “Yeah, I know it’s surprising that fear freezes me sometimes, I can’t play hero all the time.”

“You better thank that fear, it saved you from getting yourself killed,” Gabriel said with a small smile, but at the back of his head, the indication that a demon is lurking in Los Angeles, most likely preying on its next victim. Gabriel scoffed: ironic how Los Angeles is dubbed as the city of angels, yet it’s overrun by demons, literally and metaphorically.

But perhaps Los Angeles is heaven to some, with its strip clubs and bars, it was heaven for hedonism and the true avenue of broken dreams and lost souls. Gabriel has met a lot in his time as one of the city’s priests: children who were unloved, parents who are too caught up with their addiction that they can’t do their responsibilities right, rich people romanticizing poverty, poor people committing crimes in hopes to get by. In surprising cases, Gabriel has seen demons crying in the church as they prayed to God to take them back to His domain. He has learned to include the lost angels and demons whenever he prays, if not for re-entry in heaven, at least they can make peace with their fate, just as what Gabriel did to his own.

“Anything you can tell me about this friend of ours, Morrison?” 

Jack’s breathing has quelled, and his hand stopped shaking. He took a deep breath. “Nothing, sorry, it was already dark when I got here, but… well… you got your typical red eyes, long limbs… I wish I can tell more, but...”

“It’s fine.” Gabriel pat his shoulder, “don’t push it, Jack, and let’s keep this between the two of us. You don’t want people to know what we’re dealing with here.”

Jack pat Gabriel’s hand, sighing. “I know… I know… Looks like this will be filed as unsolved, either way. Jesus Christ, look at how much the bastard messed him up...” He looked up to him, pleading, “you’re here, can you give him peace? Feels like it’s the least I can do if I wasn’t able to save him.”

Gabriel nodded in understanding and clutched his rosary necklace, he crossed the yellow line and took careful steps to not let blood and wine seep into his clothes. He kept a safe distance from the corpse, looking at it once more. In his mind, he knew that this was the work of a demon. “I don’t know what sins you committed, but you don’t deserve this kind of death.” 

Gabriel shut his eyes and clutched the cross in his rosary with both hands. As he quietly recited his prayers, others stood behind him to join him with the prayer, hoping to at least alleviate the poor sod’s soul to heaven. Gabriel knew it won’t mean a damn, as the God above and the King below will determine who will come to their kingdoms, but still, Gabriel is a man of faith, and there is something hopelessly beautiful when a group of sinners come together to pray for a sinner’s peace and entry to the eternal life. Perhaps it was proof that they are all under two polar opposites of anomalous forces, beyond their understanding, and the most foolish and wisest thing they can do is to submit to them.

He kept his prayer simple and headed back to Jack who escorted him from the high-rise building and to the outside. Jack kept his hands in his trench coat’s pockets, and Gabriel can see him thumbing along the outline of his lighter in his pocket. The priest smirked. “You’re not allowed to smoke. What will people think if you’re smoking with a priest with you?”

“This is Los Angeles, Gabriel,” Jack grinned as he retorted, “hypocrisy and addiction is this city’s lifeblood, you know that, right?”

“I thought you quit.”

“I did. I haven’t smoked in months.” Jack sighed heavily as he looked up to the ceiling. “And it’s difficult. Sometimes, I feel like I’m battling myself to quit thinking about smoking.”

“You can do it, God’s with you, Jack. You’re going to come out of this trial stronger than ever,” Gabriel replied in a mocking conciliatory tone, one that Jack always says how priests speak when they try to comfort someone. The detective rolled his eyes. 

“Gabriel...”

“You’re still a catholic, chief detective.” He grinned teasingly, “and I’ve seen you praying and attending mass every Sunday. I should know, I handle the mass quite often.”

Jack went quiet, in deep thought of what Gabriel said. “... God might be here, but I’m struggling to believe that He cares. Otherwise, I didn’t have to see what happened earlier tonight, and what happened to you shouldn’t have happened at all.”

Gabriel knew what Jack meant all-too-well, the scars on his back hurt now thinking about it, but truly, he has moved on, he has found a new purpose. “I stopped getting angry over it,” he quietly replied. “You should, too. ”

“Are you sure you’re not angry over it anymore?”

“If I was, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

They headed outside of the high-rise building and Jack accompanied Gabriel until they reached his bike. “When are you going to start investigating this, Gabriel?”

“As soon as I can.” He slipped his helmet on, “reading about demons tonight wouldn’t hurt. It’s a favorite past-time now.”

“When will I expect to hear a word from you, then?”

“I’ll drop by the police station and tell you what I know. Maybe God’s going to tell me something tonight to help with your case, we’ll never know. You’ll never know from Him.” He revved the engine to life. “And you’ll hear from me.”

“I always expect that.”

“Good. I’ll head to the station tomorrow to take a look at the corpse.” Gabriel left the area and back to the church. The dark streets of Los Angeles were nothing compared to the impending threat over the city. Gabriel, with a hardened resolve of a soldier, is determined to hunt down the murderous demon.

* * *

Sleep was the last thing on Gabriel’s head when he arrived back at the church. The first thing he did was pray again to the holy figure of the crucified Jesus whose large figure is imposing in the temple. He knelt one of the center front row pews to pray, though including the lost soul of tonight’s victim once again, and guidance to catch the demon in hiding.

_ If this was another trial set upon me, then I pray I succeed _, because Gabriel will have no idea how will he handle it if he doesn’t. Failure was never an option, especially for a man like him. As much as Jack’s testament won’t get him far from where they are now, knowing what the victim is like will be his first step. Something about his lifestyle may be his clue on what attracted the demon to attack him in the first place. His prayer was soon turned into deep thought about the case, head swirling with different questions, all he couldn’t answer yet, but he hoped that in due time, he will.

Gabriel moved to his rectory to finally take a bath and settle on the bed. He pulled out a book under it and rested his back against the wooden bed’s headboard. He slipped his glasses on and made himself comfortable before he started to read; the old books and encyclopedias of holy and demonic figures have been his constant companion since he became a priest. Once or twice, it has helped him know what he’s dealing with, and even though Jack’s description is not going to help him get far in the case, being able to narrow down the possible types of demons can prove useful.

He skimmed the pages for the physical description of demons as well as he can, though he can’t deny that it has been a long day for him that he was quick to feel sleepy. He removed his glasses and set the book aside, as he covered himself in blankets, Gabriel closed his eyes, his mind still lingering at the case before his body took the rest it needed from the exhaustion it experienced for today.


	2. Chapter 2

Gabriel heard them again: the screaming and the whispered, coordinated chantings. The scars on his back twitched in pain repeatedly, and he’s failed to recognize whose screamings he was hearing: was it his own? His comrade? Gabriel couldn’t follow anymore. The pain was numbing his senses, the grips on his wrists tightened, everything fell into a deafening screech.

The priest’s eyes shot open, he stared at the ceiling as he registered that it was all a dream… well, a distant memory. Startled, yes, but at least he didn’t wake up screaming the way he used to. A soft yet heavy sigh escaped Gabriel’s lips. He sat up to rub the scars on his back that let out waves of spasms, causing him to be more awake now. His arms now went limp to his sides, a rather deep breath came out of him and he shook his head. _ No use thinking about it now, there’s a long day ahead of me. _

Gabriel got up to get ready, telling Jack that he’ll come to the station through a text message and then did his morning rituals. He dressed up in his cassock and then went to his bike to drive his way into the police station.

It was 7:36 AM, as much as Gabriel can see that the station’s already bustling with working officers, there are few people who are dozing off. He sat in the waiting room and observed the police officers currently working in the bullpen until Jack came from the stairs of the precinct. Jack smiled in recognition of the priest. “Didn’t know you’d be up this early.”

“Something made me wake up this early.” Gabriel looked at him inquisitively, “shall we?”

Jack motioned his head for Gabriel to follow his lead, which the man did. None has raised a question on where the two were going, the other officers greeted Gabriel with familiarity, to which the priest greeted back in the same manner, but they ultimately left them be. They headed to the autopsy room, Jack waved in recognition to the two forensic agents currently working. 

The detective handed Gabriel a pair of surgical gloves before they can step further into the lab. Jack immediately ordered to fish out the corpse of the latest case. The forensic agents paled, though they followed his orders and uncovered his face. The petrified face that still haunted the thoughts of those who’d seen it still remained. Gabriel’s brows furrowed, carefully pulling the blanket off to the chest. He studied the claw marks and the torn skin with Jack.

“We examined the body last night,” Jack informed him, “the cuts are too deep to be made by regular nails, they’re at least as deep as stab wounds. We never recovered the weapon of choice. The kitchen knife in the penthouse was untouched, it can’t be the murder weapon.”

“You didn’t get the murder weapon because it’s with the murderer,” Gabriel replied as a matter-of-factly. “You can say it’s part of the murderer, too. Though… look at this wound, they pierced through the organs…”

Jack handed him a file to which Gabriel studied the contents intently: photos of autopsy and close-ups of wounds were shown. Gabriel was thankful he has a strong stomach to look at the images in front of him. “The torn muscles look like they decayed, Gabe. We’ve already established the one who attacked isn’t human, anyway. Got any clues on what this might be?”

“Not yet… but I’m more curious why it attacked him.” He flipped through the photos until he found the identification file of the victim, taking in every information that he can read from it. “Alexander Raymoore, 45 years old. Married, huh?” He turned to Jack. “Has anyone of the detectives talked to the family members yet?”

The detective shook his head. “We still don’t know what to tell them if they asked how did he die.”

“Just say ‘murder’, his wife is not a kid, I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“The follow-up question is harder to answer.” Jack rubbed the corners of his eyes, obviously stressed, “I can’t just say that her husband’s attacked by a demon.”

“Fair enough.” Gabriel looked at the photos from the crime scene, skimming through the information files and then to a couple of pictures taken. “Hypothetically 5’10”, but the glass hole from the penthouse is most likely made by someone who is 8 feet.”

“They’re still looking for a non-supernatural explanation. Someone hypothesized that the killer might have used something big to shatter the glass, now we’re looking for whatever it is they used to break it. What’s also peculiar is… his liver is missing. None of the other organs were taken, but why his liver…?” Jack glanced at the corpse. “Most of my men couldn’t eat when we had to bring this one back. Some already called that they’re rattled to come to work.”

“Did you let them get a day off?”

Jack nodded.

“Good.” Gabriel looked at the corpse once more, placing his hand on the side of the bed. “Not a lot of people can stomach this ungodly sight. You and I both know that.”

Jack can almost read what Gabriel was thinking at that moment, especially Gabriel tightened his jaw as he stared blankly at the cold body. Jack’s mind ran with ideas to help his friend snap out of his train of thought, he placed a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. The man turned to him, slightly taken aback but has quickly regained his senses immediately. “Gabe, we’re going to get to the bottom of this. I’ll personally visit this man’s family later to ask questions and I’ll tell you all that you needed to know.”

One of the forensic scientists raised a large coffee cup behind the glass window where they can see the laboratory. Jack smiled at them and then to Gabriel. “Morning coffee for the precinct arrived. Come on, I ordered one for you, as well.”

They both headed back to the laboratory, throwing their gloves to the trash along the way. The detective handed Gabriel his drink, and he looked at the coffee cup’s white sleeve stamped with the shop’s logo and name. A surprised smile graced Gabriel’s lips. _ Horned Halo Café _ . Jack noticed it. “Remembered something?” He smirked, “I know the shop’s coffee is good, I guess I never realized it’s _ that _ good that you smiled like that.”

Gabriel drank his americano. “I know the owner of this shop. I haven’t visited for some time, got too busy with the charity drives and handling the masses recently.” A thought crossed in his head. “Maybe I should…” Gabriel soon went out of the autopsy room, secretly pocketing a photo of the victim, “tell me when you’re going to talk to Alexander’s family, Jack. Ask them of his recent activities, any vices, if he’s prone to making enemies, the likes. You’re good at interrogation, you’ll know follow-up questions you’re going to ask.”

“And what about you?”

“Need to meet with a friend, let me know if you learned something new.”

Gabriel left the police station with his motorcycle, driving all the way to a district. On a corner of a street, amidst the bars, clubs, offices, and restaurants, a café’s comfortably nestled in it. Gabriel saw the café’s sidewalk tables that made him park near it. 

He walked into the shop and was greeted by the rustic interior: white wooden walls and a long counter, the bar’s shelves were lined with different spirits and syrups. The machines were in one place for easier access to the barista. The menu of the shop’s written neatly in a large framed blackboard, but there are also laminated ones on each table and on the counter. Potted plants in different varieties were neatly placed outside and inside the shop. Gabriel can see the streets through the large glass windows where the natural light comes in, making the place bright even if the lights that are turned on are still few, enough to illuminate the darker parts of the cafe.

“Father Gabriel!” a woman enthusiastically greeted him; a toned girl with auburn hair and hazel eyes was grinning at him from ear to ear. Gabriel smiled in recognition to her.

“Brigitte, never knew you’d try and work in a café,” he teased. “How did Torbjörn take it? Hopefully he didn’t lose his cool while you told him that you’re not going to work in his laboratory.”

“Hah! I’ve been working here for almost two years now. And dad’s okay with it, as long as I’m earning something, besides, I’m only a part-time here.” After hearing the sound of machines rumbling the ground, a frown formed in Brigitte’s face. She crossed her arms, glaring at the wall on her left. “There they go again...”

“Father Reyes?” Another woman with black hair in a ponytail smiled at the priest, holding a portafilter. She placed it to the table where the espresso machine. “Haven’t seen you for a long time.” 

Gabriel approached the counter to come near her. A particularly loud hammering surprised them, making her wince and smiled apologetically at the priest. “Sorry… club next door is getting renovated.” She sighed heavily, though she immediately flashed Gabriel a smile. “Anyway! It’s still not 9 AM so the café is not officially open but would you like something to drink? It’s on the house.”

“It’s alright, Arcadia. Thank you for the kind offer, though.” He sat on one of the counter stools. Brigitte informed Arcadia that she’ll be out back to check her bike and if Arcadia’s right, Brigitte is most likely going to argue with one of the construction workers. As Brigitte left, Gabriel continued talking, “I need your help.”

“Obviously. I know you wouldn’t remember coming here if you don’t remember what I am.” Arcadia raised an eyebrow as if challenging the priest to prove her wrong. Gabriel sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. Though, she sighed after. “Well… what is it, then?”

Gabriel took a deep breath, taking a moment to be able to compose himself. “There’s a murder last night, a demon killed a man.”

“A demon?” Arcadia raised an eyebrow, confused. “Any reason why? I haven’t heard demons killing another human in a city for some time not without reason.”

“I have no idea, and I’m hoping you can help.” Gabriel pulled out a photo that Arcadia picked up from the counter. “Victim’s Alexander Raymoore, from the work address, I saw that he works near here. Have you seen him?”

Arcadia blinked, recalling any memory of the man in the image. “Oh, Alex… he has ordered here sometimes. Bit of a tool, really.”

“Tool enough to piss off a demon?”

She shook her head, sliding the image back to Gabriel’s direction. “He at least gives fat tips whenever he orders here, or when we have to make a delivery to their office.”

“Have you seen him with a demon?”

“No… he comes to my shop alone most of the time. The only time he went with a companion is with a girl that was his daughter.”

Gabriel sighed and shook his head, rubbing his temple as his other hand formed into a fist. Arcadia gently pat his back, “sorry, I know it’s not much help right now.”

He looked at her intently, brown eyes staring at hers. With a low voice, he spoke, “You do know you can help me in another way, right?” His gaze was now more intense as he leaned closer to her. “I need to see memories of this man before he died.”

She pulled away with an eye roll, “I’m not going to do that.”

“You’ve done it before, it should be no different now,” Gabriel insisted. 

“Father Reyes, between the two of us, you’re the one who practices the dark arts.”

“You’re the one gifted in witchcraft.”

“Look, Father.” Arcadia inhaled sharply. “I don’t practice witchcraft regularly, and do you know how draining it is for me to do one ritual? You’re asking me to call upon a dead man’s soul that has already crossed the threshold. I can’t, not without a lot of risks on me.”

“What are the risks if the results are worth it?” Gabriel tapped the photo. “This is a man slain by a demon, and who knows if his killer already has a new target to prey on? Somebody has to keep the city safe, and I’m asking for your help, Arcadia.” He looked at her with pleading eyes. “There’s a demon that can and will not hesitate to kill a human, I can’t let it kill again.”

She let out a huff. “Look, I can’t help you in that way, but I’ll keep an eye out if I see a familiar demon that can be your potential target. I just… can’t do what you’re asking, Father Reyes, I’m sorry.”

Gabriel relented, sighing inwardly. “Fine. But if you ever changed your mind...” he slipped the photo back to Arcadia’s direction, to which the barista stared at, rather torn if she should accept, though they were interrupted when Arcadia’s eyes landed outside and saw Brigitte arguing. Her eyes widened.

“Oh no...” She rushed outside to hold Brigitte back and a worker away from her. Gabriel also rushed out, suspiciously eyeing the worker that Brigitte was arguing with and the other workers as well. Arcadia pulled the girl back, “Brig, let’s not, please?”

“They were annoying!” she reasoned, “and they almost made a dent on the wall of the café!”

“Brig, if that happens, I’ll settle it with the club owner, okay? How about you head back inside?” She whispered to Brigitte, “please, just… don’t pick a fight with them, let’s resolve this as peacefully as we can. Don’t get into trouble for my sake.”

Brigitte headed back inside the café, still annoyed but understood Arcadia’s reasoning. The girl let out a breath of relief, glancing at Gabriel. “Come on, let’s get you to your bike.”

As Arcadia escorted Gabriel, the priest mumbled under his breath, “those are demons. All of the construction workers are demons.”

“Yeah...” Arcadia shrugged. “Easy to know that the owner of the club’s a demon, too.”

“Have you met them?”

She shook her head. “No. And I guess I don’t want to meet them. They tried to buy my lot once through an agent, I refused.” She snidely commented, “they got some nerve asking me to sell my café. Hah! Never in a million years! I got too many frequenters now, and I enjoy my space here.”

Gabriel stopped asking more questions. When they arrived at his bike, as the priest slipped his helmet on, she told him, “I’ll be on the lookout, I’ll keep in touch. And if I ever changed my mind...”

A soft smile graced Gabriel’s lips, “thanks.” He turned the engine on. “Have a blessed day, Arcadia.”

With a wave goodbye from the barista, Gabriel took off to go back to the church, his duties as a priest can’t be held back for long. All he can do for now is to wait for a call from Jack’s investigation.


	3. Chapter 3

Gabriel did more tasks in the church to keep himself busy while waiting for Jack’s call: sweep the garden, clean the halls and the arcades, and read more books on demonology and angelicum until the next day arrived. There is a quiet room under the clergy house that the priest now frequently visited which has been dusty for some time, untouched before Gabriel came, and although specks of dust still tend to stick on books and whatnot, the cobwebs weren’t present, anymore, and he can handle sweeping a few dusts here and there.

The books of demonology are rampant in the old library, but there are few books discussing angelicum, and he deduced that they can’t even fill an entire shelf. Well, he never had the time to sort them out, so he’ll never know if his theory is correct, and Gabriel thought that perhaps angelic beings are not keen on meeting with a mortal unless God asked them to. The few angels he encountered before had disdain over humanity as a whole.

Gabriel’s sure there are nicer angels out there, but there’s no reason for him to try hard to look for one.

He came across a large, hardbound leather book, the spine had markings of words he couldn’t comprehend. He squinted, approaching the book. _ Never got the language… it’s not Latin, too. _ He came across the book multiple times, but never bothered to pick it up since he doesn’t understand the language and the letters, but if he should admit, it has always made him curious: why is such a book that isn’t written in Latin, if anything, is in the old library of the church?

He carefully took it out of the shelf and flipped the fragile pages as delicately as he can. As expected, the letters were too foreign for him to understand, _ as if it’s a preternatural language. _ Still, despite not being able to get a clue of what’s in there, he decided to keep looking at it: there are illustrations, mostly involving sacred geometries, but even then, Gabriel couldn’t decipher anything, and it was making him more curious and frustrated at the book as he pressed on reading.

He got a papercut as he flipped the page during his investigation, he jerked his hand in reaction to the pain. Gabriel glanced at the small wound on his finger before his eyes wandered back to the book, hissing slightly in the stinging pain of the wound. _ There goes the book… _Though, as he checked the damage his blood did to the page, Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened, the distance between his face and the book almost closed in as he leaned down in disbelief, hurryingly checking the pages: the words were suddenly translated into a language that he can understand. He looked at his papercut wound and back to the book, completely in awe of what happened.

He recovered quickly from his fascination and picked it up to start studying its content when his phone rang. Jack finally called, and although Gabriel is curious about the book, he _ has _ to know what Jack found out. He slipped the book back on the shelf as he answered the phone, the markings on its spine now gone. Gabriel walked upstairs and into the church's arcade. “Found something useful?”

“_I’ll go ahead and say that I didn’t get a lot from interviewing his wife, she cried hysterically the moment I said that her husband is a victim of murder. It was hard work comforting her._” Jack muttered under his breath, “_I had to spare her the details of how he died, I only told her that the killer is still unknown and we’re figuring out if Alex is known to make enemies._”

“Did she say something?”

“_No… but she said that Alex had a history of cheating, they almost got a divorce from it, but they opted not to since it will ruin their family’s image._” The detective scoffed from the other line, “_odd to me that other people will have the gall to cheat on their partners and they’re more worried about their image to their peers._”

As much as Gabriel agrees with Jack and his shared disgust with cheaters, it was not the proper time to talk about it. “You think one of Alex’s mistresses can be the demon we’re looking for?”

“_It could be, Mrs. Raymoore gave me the name of a girl that she claimed Alex had a bad breakup with. She only knew she was a mistress because she ran to their home screaming and broke a glass window by throwing rocks._”

Gabriel winced at the thought, “that sounds like a truly bitter ex.”

“_She told me the name of the girl, I also looked up her information on available social media I can find. Although..._” Jack sucked his breath in from the other line. “_It’s suspicious how she has a name already as her list of suspects. I’m thinking that she might also have something to do with this, but you know that I can’t say it for sure, not when we don’t have evidence of her involvement, but I’ll keep her name on my list of suspects._”

“Send me the name of Alex’s ex and his wife, I’ll do my own investigation, too. I’ll see if I can find another bit of information that can be connected to what happened to Alex.” Gabriel bit his thumb, still pondering over the book. “Just give me a call if you’re going to investigate his ex, I also need to see her.”

“_You got it, and Gabe… watch yourself._” Jack quietly said, “_My men are finally looking for another angle, they think they found something. I'll look out for anything they find that can help us._”

Jack ended the call when a loud voice rang to his end, Gabriel put it back in his pocket and glanced at the direction of the old library. There could be something _ more _ that Gabriel can find out in that book, and it was evident that it was protected by magic. There _ has _to be something in that book, at least, maybe something he hasn’t come across yet anywhere. But before he can take another step, the young sexton approached him again

“Father Gabriel, I hope I’m not interrupting you,” he said timidly. The man shook his head.

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, um, nothing’s wrong, but...” He tried pointing at the end of the walkway where he came from, “there are a few deacons waiting for you at the church.”

“Oh… Oh, right.” Gabriel hurried to the church proper, “thank you for telling me, oh, and I’m going to need you to buy our groceries, our food supply is running low.”

“B-But Father, I’m not the one assigned for grocery shopping this month...”

“Why don’t you accompany the designated person, then.” Gabriel grinned smugly, “don’t forget, being a man of God requires doing good things voluntarily, consider this as part of your training.”

* * *

It was after dinner when Jack contacted him to investigate one of Alex’s ex. _ Samantha_, Jack told him, but that was only what the detective told him, promising to tell him more once they’re in his car as they’ll drive to the city’s financial district through Los Angeles’ traffic, and that he was already on the way to church to pick him up. Gabriel adjusted his position from his seat, looking at the view in front of him as Jack tapped the steering wheel, waiting for the traffic jam to end. The priest took his chance to finally start a conversation about the case, “this Samantha… is she working at the financial district or she just so happens to live there as well?”

“Yes, and yes,” the irritation in Jack’s voice was present, he muttered to himself, “when will these damn cars start moving again...”

Gabriel chuckled. “As if you’re not used to Los Angeles already, just talk to me about Samantha so I’m not going in blindly to our Person of Interest.”

Jack glanced at him sideways before he replied to him, “Samantha Conners, she’s a VP investment banker and she picked her apartment specifically so she’ll be close to her job.” As the traffic jam passed, he started driving again, and although the pace is currently slow, Jack’s still thankful that they’re progressing at least, “technically, she’s already rich before she started working as a banker, and it’s obvious that it’s her daddy who pulled some strings for her to become a VP. Only someone in her late-20’s and already holding a high position? Unless she’s good at her job, and I’m assuming she’s not considering the photos from her Instagram, it’s not possible.”

Gabriel smirked, “awfully judgemental of you, Jack.”

He chuckled wryly. “I’m only stating the obvious.”

“Sure.”

“If you’ve seen her social media, you’d agree with me.”

“You never gave me anything other than names and other basic information, how would I know?”

Jack groaned, Gabriel grinned victoriously as he lay comfortably against the car seat. “You know you can’t win an argument against me, never had, so I don’t know why you think you’d win now.”

“Some people can hope that it’ll change, Gabe.” He took a turn, and surprisingly, the traffic was much lighter, “as long as I try hard enough, I _ could _ win an argument with you at least once.”

“It’s never going to happen. Have you met my _ nana _?” The priest smiled fondly at the memory of her. “Sassiest woman I’ve ever known, and I’ve been trained under her quick wit for years, I won’t lose to a common white boy, Morrison.”

“Did you really turn this into race?”

“I didn’t, all I’m saying is you white people are too tame.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “For a priest, you sure are discriminatory of white people.”

“For a detective, you can’t see that discrimination against white people do not exist.”

Jack shot Gabriel a deadpan stare as the priest laughed heartily. The detective shook his head as he pursed his lips, looking back to the road. He started reading the signs and turned left into the main road. Nearing the high-rise apartment they were looking for, he slowed down until he came to a full stop and took off his seatbelt. 

“We’re here.”

They both went out of the car and Gabriel followed Jack’s lead. The detective showed his badge to the front desk concierge, asking for Samantha Conners’ room, and of course, Jack had to flash her that smile of his that can sweet-talk his way out of anything, and Gabriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As they headed to the 8th floor through an elevator, Gabriel couldn’t help himself and teased Jack, “you really had to give her that smile, huh?”

“I’m trying to make this case easier for the both of us,” Jack retorted. “And it’s already late, I want us to go home immediately.”

Jack walked fast to the door number the concierge gave them. He stopped in front of one and knocked on the door, Gabriel stood behind him, waiting for the girl to open the door. A few seconds later, a brown-haired girl opened the girl, still in buttoned clothes and skirt, although rumpled. She looked at the two men, exasperated. “I cancelled my appointment tonight, didn’t I? And I said I’m not interested in roleplay! Damn it, I’m going to give your damn website one star for shitty services.”

Jack and Gabriel looked at her, confused. He pulled his identification and badge to show Samantha. “LAPD, Detective Morrison, and I’m afraid we’re not sex workers, Ms. Conners, we’re here for investigation.”

She sneered, “really? Dressed like a stereotypical detective and a priest to boot, and you two aren’t call boys? Please, I’m in no mood to entertain this stupidity.”

Gabriel finally stepped in, “I’m sure you know Mr. Alexander Raymoore,” he stated plainly, “he was found dead last night, and we’re here to interview you.”

Her eyes widened, freezing in her spot at the mere mention of the victim’s name. She squeaked out, “...A-Alex…?”

Jack looked at Gabriel and then back to Samantha. “Please, we’re not going to take a lot of your time, we’re only going to ask a few questions and then we’ll leave.”

Samantha was shell-shocked, still, but she quietly stepped away from the door to let Jack and Gabriel in. The two men did, and the woman led them to her couch where they sat, and she sat on the other end of them. Samantha’s eyes were downcast, her hands were shaking on her lap, her breathing uncoordinated. Still, she asked, “a-are you sure t-that it’s Alex…?”

Jack nodded. “He was killed in his own penthouse last night,” he explained, “from what we have gathered when we investigated, he was having a drink with somebody. We asked his wife if Alex had any enemies, and… well… she said that you and Alex had an… illicit relationship and when you broke up, you lost your cool in their mansion.”

Samantha’s voice rose, “and you think I will kill Alex for something that happened months ago?!” Her lips trembled, breaking out into a sob. “I will never kill him! I can’t!”

“Samantha, we’re not accusing you that you killed him, we’re asking if you know something,” Jack immediately cleared up. “You're our Person Of Interest because Mrs. Raymoore said you had a bad breakup with him, and we’re only asking if maybe you know something else.”

She continued sobbing, covering her face with her palms. Gabriel reached for the tissues on the coffee table and gently pushed it to the woman’s direction. She grabbed some and began to even out her breathing, when she did, she started talking, “I loved him… I loved Alex… despite our age difference, he understood me better than my peers ever did.” She sniffled. “He… made me feel that I can be something else… that I am where I am not because of my dad, that I am truly talented on my own… He… He changed me for the better...” She looked at Gabriel as if she was pleading for her innocence, “I swear, I never would have started a relationship with him if I only knew he was a married man, but I… I couldn’t let go, he was the only one who understood my position, I couldn’t…”

“I’m not here to judge,” Gabriel assured, “and you don’t have to explain yourself to me, what’s done is done, I’m only here to accompany a friend for his investigation. Now,” Gabriel looked at her straight in her eyes, “answer our question, please. We want to know if you know someone who has a motive for killing Alex.”

Samantha sniffled again, remorsefully looking down while her hands wriggled on her lap. “I don’t know, detective… Alex has his tendencies to be egoistic, but he has it under control most of the times, and it never gets more than gloating.” She bit her lip. “Though… he told me that… there’s this one shareholder of his that was demanding and he hasn’t yielded, but I don’t think that’s enough reason for him to kill Alex. Why would you kill the owner of the company you have a share of earnings? It doesn’t make sense. B-But unless he finds out that Alex has named him as one of the recipients for a bigger share in his will, then he may have sped up the process.”

“Does his wife know about this?”

She grumped. “That bitch only ever cared if Alex was earning money. She never cared for Alex at all. If anything, she’s the one who has the motive to kill him! Everything that he owns will be under her name and their kids.”

Jack’s eyebrow shot up in intrigue, he cocked his head on one side. “She never said that.”

“Of course, she wouldn’t, it’s going to paint her as the bad guy.” Samantha shut her eyes. “I promise, I couldn’t kill Alex, I love him too much… even though he has wronged me.”

“You had an outburst in front of their house,” Gabriel interjected. Samantha’s cheeks grew red, stammering.

“Y-Yes, i-it’s true, I lashed out once that they called the cops, but that was the only time I could have hurt Alex, I don’t have it in me to kill him!” she cried out, “I haven’t talked to him for months after we broke up! He tried reaching out to me but I ignored all of his calls. I-I don’t know how I can prove it to you─”

“Samantha, it’s okay,” Jack calmly cut off, shushing her softly. “It’s okay, we believe you. Is there anyone else you know that will have the motive to kill Alex? You seem to know what was going on with his life than his own wife.”

She nodded. “He tells me about them instead to Katherine, that should tell you how dysfunctional their relationship is.” She took a deep breath. “My ex could,” she muttered softly. “I-It’s a long story, b-but t-that’s how Alex and I bonded over in the beginning. He was stalking me in every social media and even at my work, Alex was the one who protected me from him. He has been… greedy for attention and I… I couldn’t handle it, I had to get a restraining order from him.” She stuttered, “I-I’m… I’m sorry, detective, t-those two people are the only ones I can think of at the moment.”

“It’s alright, Samantha, at least we have a new lead, you’ve been helpful.”

“I-If anything comes up, I’ll contact you.” Her entire demeanor now resolute, “I want to give Alex justice.”

“Thank you, we appreciate your cooperation.” Jack handed him a contact card. “Call me on that number if you have more people that you can think of.” He looked at Gabriel and nodded, they both got up from their seats and extended a hand on her, to which she accepted. “We appreciate your help, Ms. Conners.”

As they headed to the door, Samantha’s voice called out, “w-wait, Detective...” They both turned to her. She caught her breath, though she steeled herself. “C-Can I know… how Alex died? What happened to him…?”

Jack eyed her nervously, chewing his inner cheek. Gabriel sighed and looked at the woman. “What happened to him...” He took a deep breath. “Is something that I wouldn’t even wish to anyone, not even to my greatest enemies, Samantha.”

Samantha gasped, her lips trembling again as her eyes watered. She looked away and huffed, trying to hold back her tears and failing at it. “Father… I know this is a stupid question, but… is Alex’s soul going to be put to rest? Maybe find comfort in heaven?”

Ah… _ that question _. “I can’t answer if he’ll go to heaven or in hell, but I can tell you that we prayed for his soul for peace when we found it. We can only hope it’s enough for him.”

Jack and Gabriel quietly left the loft for Samantha to cry on her own. They didn’t say a thing as they headed to the elevator. The priest was in deep thought again, his arms folded as his one hand was on his chin, a finger placed upon his lips. Jack took a gander in his direction before he started talking, “doesn’t seem to be the type who will kill our victim, I have a feeling that she was telling the truth. Maybe I can─”

“She’s no demon, Jack,” Gabriel stated. “She's just a regular human. In the first place, she’s not our target.” He groaned inwardly, frustration building up at the very core of him. He’s not supposed to fail this, and right now, he is by letting the demon slip away. “Damn it…”

Jack pat his back. “We have new information, though, we’ll find out more and find that demon we’re looking for.”

They headed back to Jack’s car and drove away from the apartment complex. Gabriel still contemplated the unfruitful investigation, his hands clasped together on his lap, his brows furrowed. Jack sighed and spoke, keeping his eyes on the road, “lighten up a little, Gabe, we’re getting closer, I’m sure.”

“Is that what your gut feeling is telling you?”

“More or less.”

“Ever the optimist, aren’t you?”

Jack grinned, “someone has to.”

“Yeah, right.” 

They were quiet again, none of them ever thought of breaking the silence as Jack drove Gabriel back to the church. As Gabriel dropped off, Jack called out his name to get his attention. “Gabe, we’ll find them, whoever it is, especially that’s just in your nature.”

“I know.”

And with that, Jack sped off, leaving Gabriel to walk back to the church and process the things that happened for the day. Still, his mind wandered back to the book he managed to unlock today. Before he walked to his room, he paid a little visit to the old library again to take the book with him. He loosened up his cassock before he relaxed in his bed and read the book, his back resting against the headboard. He skimmed through the pages, hoping to find something that could pique his interest instead of fully reading its contents. One of the pages mentioned using a human liver, Gabriel had to do a double-take to make sure he read it right.

“_ Earning thy Majesty’s favor, _

_ Ten prized golden possessions _

_ Twenty black candles _

_ Human liver _”

Gabriel stared hard at the symbol drawn on the page and grabbed the other book from the nightstand and turned the pages, frantically searching for anything that might be similar to it, and sure enough, after a couple of flipping and redoing it, Gabriel found… not entirely a match, but something close enough, _ too close enough._ He placed the other book on top of the much larger grimoire, comparing the symbols and shapes that it contains. Gabriel caught his breath. _ Mammon_…

His symbol has gone through a few redesigns, the one on the grimoire must be older than he thought.

Now, new questions in his head: why would a demon try to evoke one of the Princes of Hell to earth? And why would they need to earn _ his favor_?

The urgency to solve the case fast was rising within him, the exhaustion in Gabriel’s veins washed away now that he had to truly find who was the one who orchestrated Alex’s murder to find the answers. They were so close in knowing who it is, but still, without a piece of concrete evidence and a suspect, he wouldn’t know who to hunt down, and Gabriel _ has _to find who they are and confront them for what they’ve done.

There was a thud that cut him out of his thoughts, Gabriel’s entire body was on high alert. _ Who in their right mind will go to the church at this hour? _ He quietly reached under his mattress, pulling out his shotguns. He loaded and cocked them, ready to fire, Gabriel tiptoed his way out, following the sound of scurrying and shuffling of footsteps.

Fresh mud prints greeted him illuminated under the moon that is making their way to the church proper. Gabriel unlocked one of the private doors to go inside, hiding within the shadows and behind the columns, he observed the intruder: no horns in sight, though he was covered with black from head to toe, but he was _ human _ overall. Gabriel lowered his guns and hid them under his clothes, shoulders now finally relaxed, though he steeled himself once more to confront the other man in the church.

His trained steps made its way to the high altar where the robber hurriedly took off the golden accessories of some of the holy statues to stuff them in his backpack. Gabriel watched for his shadow as he prowled his way behind the altar table. As the robber was distracted from the locked mini vault housing the goblet and the bowls they use for the holy communion, he took it as a chance to jump and lock the robber into his arms by the neck as he threw his weight to the ground, pinning him down on his chest. The man struggled, but he couldn’t loosen the tight grip Gabriel has on his twisted arm on his back.

“W-What the─”

“Trust me, you’d do well to keep quiet than to struggle.”

“Goddamn it, let me fucking go you─ah!”

Gabriel twisted his arm a little higher, unremorseful. “I warned you.”

The pain made the man howl louder as Gabriel kept him under his grip. The man cried out, “aren’t you a priest, have mercy on me! Let go of me! God’s not gonna be happy if He finds out you’re doing this to me!”

“One of the rules in God’s Ten Commandments that one shouldn’t steal, or have you forgotten that?” He twisted his arms further, making the man wail, “I think He’ll be happy to know that I apprehended a man like you stealing from His temple.”

“I-I’m sorry!” The man started sputtering curses from pain and panic, “you’re just a fucking priest, what the fuck is this?! Shouldn't you be more kind?! Let me fucking go!”

_ Just a priest _, a smirk formed in Gabriel’s lips. “You really should be more worried about where you’ll end up rather than worrying how this priest managed to pin you down and you can’t fight back.”

The man still continued to struggle, but he can’t do anything with Gabriel holding his arm so tightly that his strength was leaving him due to the excruciating agony travelling from his wrist to his entire body. Gabriel, with his other hand, took the phone from his cassock’s pocket and contacted Jack’s number. The detective was thankfully still awake and answered the priest’s call immediately.

“Jack,” he glanced down at the robber who’s still trying to wriggle away from him. “I’d like to report a crime.”

* * *

A few police cars arrived at the scene of the crime to arrest the robber and to check the stolen items that are in the bag and put them back to the holy figures of the church with Gabriel’s guidance. Some investigated how the robber got inside, Gabriel made sure to have his guns hidden under his cassock, his robes now well-buttoned once more to make himself presentable, at least to the cops. Jack stood next to him, his hands on his hips as he watched his men follow the priest’s orders as if it was a natural thing. “How… the hell can you make them this efficient? They’re never this attentive when it comes to me.”

Gabriel chuckled. “Looks like you need to exercise your leadership more, boy scout.” 

Jack groaned inwardly, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as they continued watching the officers carefully putting the crowns and bangles back. “Sometimes, I wonder, how did you ever become a priest with that attitude?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, are you accusing a man of God of being a devil? Pretty bold words from you, Jack, don’t you think?” Gabriel’s lips downturned into a plastic-like frown, but his eyes were glinting with mischievousness. He was about to say more but was cut off by a ringtone from his phone. He excused himself after reading the name of the caller and pulled away from them, far enough not to be heard by any of the policemen. “Hello?”

The woman at the other end of the line replied weakly, “_ Father Reyes…? Damn… you pick up your phone fast... _”

“Arcadia…?” Gabriel looked back at the force still busy with their investigation before turning back, his tone serious, “Arcadia, are you okay─”

“_Just… a little... _ ” she coughed. “_A little nosebleed and… fuck… bleeding… uh… but..._”

“Just take a deep breath and clean yourself up before calling─”

“_No, no, I… I have to tell you now._” Arcadia sucked in a huge amount of air, trying to even out her breathing. “_Fuck… fuck, I feel exhausted… um… Father Reyes, I… shit, I did it. It’s him… the victim..._”

Gabriel’s eyes widened in shock. “You...”

“_I’m not that strong enough to hold the vision longer, but... _ ” She coughed from the other line, and by the sound of it, she’s coughing blood. “_It’s… who you’re looking for is a woman, Father Reyes… t-that’s all I managed to see before… before it transformed into its form... a chasm demon. I still wasn’t able to see a lot, I’m so sorry. _”

“Arcadia, I can’t thank you enough,” Gabriel murmured, still careful not to be overheard by anyone. “Rest up, and don’t go to work tomorrow, you’re going to need the entire day for your body to recover.” His gratefulness can’t be hidden now, “thank you… you’ve given me some progress for the investigation.”

With a few more reminders for Arcadia to rest her body, Gabriel dropped the call, approaching Jack as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket and careful not to let the shotguns show. “Jack, has Samantha ever given you another list of female suspects?”

“She’s sent a few, why?” Jack tilted his head as he squinted at Gabriel curiously. “Rather specific gender you’re looking for, Gabe. Found something?”

“Look, just… tell me the names.”

There’s a desire in Jack’s heart to pry further, but with the way Gabriel is moving, he knew better than to ask a man like Gabriel withholding information. He started recounting the names of the handful of female suspects of the case and their relation to the victim, answering every question Gabriel has about them. Gabriel’s brows soon furrowed.

“I thought you said Alex’s wife is a suspect.”

Jack shook his head. “Can’t. She has a pretty good alibi when we asked her earlier.” He took his phone out, showing Gabriel a series of photos from a security camera, “it’s from a club far from the penthouse, that’s Jean with her friends, they left the club 10 minutes before the crime happened. She can’t possibly drive from here to there under 10 minutes, right?”

‘_It was a chasm demon,_’ the words rang in Gabriel’s head, he looked back at the time and at the photo as a whole. “Unless they’re a demon with strong limbs that can jump for miles in a matter of seconds...”

Gabriel fiercely met Jack’s eyes almost instantaneously. “Give me their address, Jack. Right now.”

* * *

Jack couldn’t stop Gabriel from leaving the church as soon as he got the information he needed, Gabriel drove away with his motorcycle and into the mansion of the Raymoores. He hid his motor from the plain sight and took out his shotguns from behind. 

Gabriel slowly crept inside, fully on guard. As there are no concrete openings, he took a deep breath and transformed into a shadowy mist, creeping through the small crevices of the window and under the doorway and then transforming back at a spot in the living room. He took notice of the lavish art deco decorations and flooring, though moreover, he’s looking for a trace of the demon. His hunt has begun.

He prowled the shadows, shotguns ready to fire at any given moment. His senses were dialled up to eleven, someone is in the room other than him, but at the moment, he can’t pinpoint where the target is currently, but he kept an eye on his environment if anything will move or give away the demon’s whereabouts. From his right, something rustled. Gabriel stopped his tracks and shut his eyes, listening to the eerie silence of the house. In an instant, his eyes were wide open as he turned to shoot behind him. The decorative vase broke, leaving Gabriel to look at the total darkness of that spot, though he didn’t put his gun down.

Red irises emerged from the darkness, the demon growled at Gabriel as it slowly revealed itself: pale blue skin, back hunched, though even with that it was still taller than the priest, well-muscled, though its arms were hideously longer than its legs, upturned nose, its large razor-sharp teeth baring at the priest. Its clawed hand was covering the spot Gabriel shot, its red, pupil-less eyes were looking at Gabriel with bewilderness and wrath, bleeding a thick liquid of blue and black.

“**_You..._ ** ” its voice deep and guttural, but at the same time it was shrill, both coming from the same mouthpiece. Gabriel kept his stare at it. It was hard to believe that it has been pretending to be a woman all along, nothing of its demon form can indicate it. “**_A priest… wounding a demon like me… how is this possible?_**”

“You’ll find that I am no ordinary priest.” He pointed his other gun at it. “And I have questions for you, Jean, and you’re going to give the answers to me. Hell be damned.”

“**_You will find that I don’t talk easily._**”

“That’s alright,” Gabriel smirked, his righteous temper stirred within his core. “You’ll find that I have more than enough experience to handle that.”

With a howl, the demon charged at Gabriel, jumping to pin him down onto the floor, but with his quick reflexes, he evaded it, fired a flurry of shots with his Hellfire guns to the demon. The chasm demon jumped and ran to the walls to evade Gabriel’s attacks. It jumped again to Gabriel’s direction and swung its long, large arm, claws bared in an attempt to scratch him, however, he turned into a mist, giving himself a distance from the demon and started shooting once more. The vases and tables and other decorations in the house were now in pieces, a result of the two fighters evading the other’s attacks

Unfortunately, as Gabriel avoided the shaking of the ground when the demon slammed its fists down. Its slobbering mouth so close to the priest as he was pushed to the ground, but before his other arm was pinned down, Gabriel repeatedly shot its face, causing for the demon to whimper and be hurt from its bullets and recoil impact. He turned into a wraith once more, sliding away from the demon’s grip. ‘_Jean_’ snarled at him, claws curling. The demon is supposed to be the one being able to toy with its food, not the other way around.

“**_No ordinary mortal can do what you did._**” It grumbled, “**_who are you?_**”

“I am a priest capable of killing you, and that’s all that you should know.” Gabriel shot at it again, the demon quickly jumped out of his line of fire, though he always managed to zero back into the wretched creature, its wounds now taking a toll on its system, its speed slowed down considerably, and Gabriel has to take advantage of it, _ fast _. 

Gabriel may have limited materials right now to do better, powerful magic, but that won’t stop him from trying to get the answers that he had to find out from his enemy.

He lured the demon into the backyard of its house, he wounded himself with the sharp blade hidden in his rosary necklace and drew Enochian symbols around the circle of blood that he made, staying in his mist form to shoot and dodge the demon. He transformed back, feet on the ground, smirking at the demon. “Stepping right into my trap… I thought you’re going to make this harder for me.”

The demon was initially confused, figuring that Gabriel was out to spur it on, it growled loudly and jumped, only to be thrown away into the center of the circle with searing pain. In a fit of panic, the demon tried once again, only to be thrown into the center again with a howl in pain, parts of its flesh now burned. Gabriel walked towards the trapped demon in the Enochian circle, cocking one of his shotguns at it. “You’re going to answer my questions, whether you like it or not.”

“**_What do you want?!_**” the demon still has some fight left in it as evident by its growl, but it didn’t make an attempt to attack Gabriel again as he’s not inside the circle.

“Let’s talk about Mammon.”

The demon chuckled. “**_And what about His Grace?_**”

“You killed Alex to gain his liver… used him as a sacrifice to Mammon.” Gabriel’s stare hardened at it, “and I want to know why you had to do it, and you will give me the answer right now or I won’t hesitate.”

“**_Hesitate to what, mortal?_**”

Gabriel shot its arm off, making the demon howl in pain as its blasted arm disintegrated into thin air. He pointed his gun to the demon’s head, “you better start talking… _ Jean_.”

Fear struck the demon’s body, Gabriel is not hesitant to kill it if he wishes to do so, and it has realized that fact. “**_P-Please!_**” it sobbed, “**_I… I had no choice but to side my allegiance to one of the princes if I wanted to live! Mammon promised that I’ll keep my riches on this earth if I join his legion!_**” Soon, its fear turned into rage, “**_an_****_d Alex… ah… that bastard… I couldn’t give a shit if he was dying, he provoked me… he thought he was invincible with his money, I only proved him wrong._**”

A chill ran down Gabriel’s spine, the confession doesn’t sound well. “What is coming?”

“**_Oh, mortal…_** **_This fight… is going to be bigger than you ever thought it would be._**” It looked up into the night sky, “**_and it’ll come, whether you like it or not, at the end of the day, the princes of Hell and the Thrones of Heaven will get what they want._**”

“And what is it?”

Without warning, the demon’s still functioning arm clawed to Gabriel’s chest, his cassock torn open that revealed the large symbol on his chest that looked like a bump scar. The demon’s eyes widened, the burn of his limb didn’t bother a bit as the revelation dawned on him. A manic cackle got out of it. “**_You’re… You’re that bastard’s warrior, that symbol is his! You’re─_ **”

He shot its other arm to shut it up. “I’m not his warrior, I will never be that damn creature’s warrior,” Gabriel snapped, enough to put the fear of God in the heart of the demon. He pointed the gun at its head, eyes dark and resolute to eliminate a threat. “Any last words?”

“**_... Please,_**” the demon begged, “**_… don’t kill me… I’m only a victim as well..._**”

Two creatures begged for his mercy tonight, and Gabriel was not about to give it to the sinners.

“_Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine. Requiescant in pace._” Gabriel shot the creature dead, its body now turning into a black goo pooling the spot in the backyard. He looked around, and then up to the sky, the words of the demon still ringing in his head. The wind blew differently, it was cold, freezing, the symbol on his chest tinged in dull pain. At the back of Gabriel's head, there was an omen that he's still yet to find out, but he still should ready himself for the trial that is about to come.

_ Something big is coming. _


	4. Chapter 4

_ She doesn’t know how long she’s running away, to whom, she doesn’t know, but perhaps the better question is what is she running away from. She couldn’t make out where she is supposed to go, all she can see are dead leaves and trees looming over the dark and thick forest that moonlight barely illuminated where she’s going. She might have been going round and round, she definitely couldn’t tell. The foretelling screech from afar was there again, she didn’t dare to look back and sprinted as fast as she can where her feet can take her. _

_ Her legs are numbing, but at least she hasn’t heard the screech for now. She took her time to regain her breath. The forest she was trapped in was massive, neverending, she hasn’t been able to come close to the edge of it, and that was the worrying part: she was stuck in the middle of nowhere pitted against something that was out to kill her from the very beginning of the chase. _

_ And just as she was about to run once more, the screech rang throughout the forest again, quieter this time. She froze in place, terrified of where to turn her head and dash away for safety. She held her breath, the sudden silence is a telltale sign that something is coming. _

_ In an instant, she was tackled down. The demonic wraith’s long, long claws tightened around her neck, she pushed it away with all of her might and wriggled under it to no avail. The sharp claws of its other hand were raised, glistening under the moonlight as its mouth, pulled skins and fanged skull teeth, screeched out, her eyes were brimming in terror, the girl beneath let_ _ out a deafening scream until the claw hit her. _

Aira woke up from her bed with a shriek and sat up, startled and sweating coldly, a shaky hand checked her neck and her face for any mark or blood clot, her arm going limp as she found that there was none, relief flowing in her system as she can finally breathe easily. She inspected the place where she is right now: all of them indicating that she was in her bedroom, nothing out of place, except a handful of objects she’s forgotten or got lazy to put back in place. She was in her room, not in the middle of an unknown thick forest at an eerie night. 

It was just a nightmare and nothing more… _ That felt so real… _

She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing before she looked at the clock: 6:28 AM, it was still too early for her usual alarm, but she can’t sleep now, not when she can still see the horror that lingers, she’s afraid of going back to sleep, afraid of seeing that deathly wraith hunting her down once again.

Aira checked herself in front of the mirror: her short hair sticking out in different directions, tired and baggy eyes, the usual for a person who recently woke up. A soft huff escaped her lips, hands running along her neck to scratch it, though she paused and inspected her neck further. Her lips trembled, a chill ran down her spine as she remembered her dream and the long marks on her neck. _ This can’t be… _

Her nightmare didn’t have to be real, and yet there’s an evident mark of it. Air punched out of her lungs, her brain raking in for a reasonable explanation as to why that happened: maybe it’s from the pillow folds, the blanket must have wrapped around her neck without her knowing, something, _ anything _ that will dispute that the nightmare has affected her, that the things she sees are not affecting her anymore.

Aira grew more and more dizzy with every second passing, her lower back has hit the edge of her room’s study table and she almost fell from losing her balance, though she gripped on the table tightly, her mind swirling, trying to comprehend the meaning of her nightmare. Dreams, after all, can be a representation of her bigger fear, a metaphor of her current state—physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.

_ No… you know it has always meant to be something literal._

She shook her head wildly as if it can get the thought of her head. She needed a cold shower, a freezing cold shower to get her mind to calm down from its ugly ideas before paranoia will get the best of her. Not again, Aira will press on living despite the residing fear in her heart. Those creatures won’t make her afraid, after all, for so long they have never made a move to finally hurt her, and she was so sure she hasn’t given them a reason to do so. There’s no reason for them to hurt her.

Is there?

* * *

Gabriel, as usual, oversaw the activities and the people quietly praying today in one fine weekday morning. There is a few people currently praying in the numerous pews of the church. The place barely gets days where no one has visited them, but it’s no brainer that since it is a weekday, almost everybody is not compelled to pray, and of course, it was a workday, all the more reason that the church is neigh-empty of believers today. Gabriel didn’t mind one bit, he can enjoy some peace and quiet in this way, particularly since he wasn’t able to sleep that much before having to get ready for the mass today.

He cleaned up the high altar and refilled the supplies for the communion. The scheduled morning mass already ended, and there was nothing that will follow. He was already out of his vestment and stole, opting to do his duties in his regular cassock. He observed the few old people currently praying deeply. He has joined them earlier to quietly pray for the lost souls walking on earth and for the recent victim of the demon he killed last night. His mind is still plagued with what the demon told him about the incoming war between heaven and hell. What could be the reason why it will happen, anyway? Has God tired of humanity’s hubris that He will let His creations be laid to waste by these creatures?

No… there has to be something more to this, but he can’t confront any angels are demons he’ll come across, that might escalate into a hostile interaction and he’s not looking forward on making too many enemies out of mystical beings and could hurt earth sooner as a result. But God, he needed to find the clues and reasons why a war is happening.

Gabriel felt like a soldier again, a soldier with new enemies and goals, he’s still fighting for the sake of others’ safety, humanity’s safety. _ Fighting a war to prevent a war from happening… I only changed profession, but has anything truly changed when I'm still fighting a battle that I don't know if I'm losing or not? _

“Father Gabriel?”

The youthful voice of a verger disturbed Gabriel out of his thoughts. He managed to give the young boy a smile as he looked at him, finally recognizing who he is. “Yes, um, something you need?”

“N-No, it’s um… the people are lining up for the confessional.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly. “Is it Wednesday already?”

The boy nodded. “They’re all waiting for you, Father.”

“Right.” He got up from the pew, “thank you for telling me, I didn’t notice the day.”

He took a look of the small line of people wanting to confess their sins today: only a handful of confessions today,_ this will be quicker than usual._ He entered his other side of the confessional booth and turned on the soft orange light on his side of the confessional that showed his shadowy silhouette on the other side through the wooden diamond lattice panel, signalling the start of confessional today. The first to enter was a woman from the sound of the voice. She cleared her throat as she sat on the chair. 

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been...” A soft mumbling was heard, recounting the days and weeks as far as what Gabriel can tell. “3 months since my last confession.”

“Speak, my child.”

“I...” The woman took a deep breath. “I… when I sometimes come here to the church to pray, I’m having… a weird thought in my head about the priest. Sometimes I don’t even go to church to pray, only to… take a look at the priest.”

Gabriel’s eyebrow became upturned. A confession concerning him was certainly not what he will expect at all for his first confessional of the day. “What is it?”

“When I look at him… I sometimes can’t help but think...” Her voice suddenly grew quiet, “I sometimes have thoughts that Father Gabriel is packing _ down there._ Ever since I noticed that he has thick thighs in his uniform, I can’t get it out of my head. A-And I noticed that he was… really… bulging… there...”

Gabriel was stunned, eyes widened in surprise at the confession he received. He pursed his lips in an attempt to suppress a chuckle that was threatening to get out of him, part of his job is to not disrespect the confessionary by laughing, but right now, it’s more difficult than it seems. He covered his lips with his palm, looking down to his pants. _ Does it really show in this uniform? _

“... You’re not wrong,” Gabriel replied with a slight hint of cheekiness in his tone, “but don’t you think you have such impure thoughts inside the church, let alone to a servant of God?”

“F-Father─?!”

“As long as you’re acting out of curiosity and not out of lust, it’s alright, though I would suggest you should start sorting your thoughts out, and don’t loiter in the church if you’re only going to stare at the priest, please. The church should be a place for holiness and spiritual contemplation.” Gabriel signed the cross with his hand in front of the wooden lattice, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” 

The woman bolted out of the confessional. Gabriel couldn’t help the stupid grin on his face as he rubbed his temple, snorting. He kept holding his chuckle until the next confessionary arrives at the booth. At least now he has something he can hold on to brighten his day a little better.

* * *

Aira didn’t have the luxury to eat breakfast, she barely had any time to make herself more presentable which was evident with some of the locks of her short hair sticking out, she didn’t know if she had the appetite to eat anything earlier, and so, she left her apartment without eating not even a bread, which proved to be a mistake for she can hear her stomach growling from hunger while she traveled all the way to where she works. A hand rubbed her belly through the large gray hoodie, trying to pacify it from making another noise.

She’s still not in the mood to eat a heavy meal, but she gave in to what her body needs. _ Food… _ she has to eat something, at least, give herself a little power boost before she slaved away in her work today again. She dreaded the changes her boss will make her do to the character they’re making the moment she gets into the building. Her skin shivered thinking about it. Work, in general, isn’t something she’d like thinking about.

It’s not that she’s under a bad boss, per se, she lets them do what they want as long as they do their work, but she has a thing of making her work over the littlest of details again and again even if they’re too trivial to be noticed, and she does it far too many times that they can’t move on to the next project. Her coworkers aren’t too terrible, either, though she’d rather keep things to herself. Most of them are too nosy, anyway when it comes to her life, and there’s only one person that she likes hanging out with is that thirty-something-year-old man that she looks up to for guidance. He never asked for anything that she doesn’t like talking about and doesn’t force her to come with her coworkers for some bonding.

Aira ended up in Horned Halo Café to get something to eat, it was the closest place near the building where she works from. There’s still some time left before she’ll be late for work, and the café doesn’t have too many customers at the moment, though they’re there, the place is still quiet, save for the music coming from the speakers of the shop that helps set the calming mood of the café. 

The woman behind the counter has seven pale blue wisps trailing behind her as she was filling a large round tank with cold water before placing it on something that Aira has no idea what it is for. The woman opened the tall cabinet of the object, and for a moment, Aira saw a container of ground coffee. After a few adjustments to the water drip, she closed the equipment and placed it on the side, Aira was finally seen by the girl who was surprised at her. 

“Oh!” she rushed to the cashier with a smile. The cash register was old, vintage, placed beside a touchscreen monitor. The difference in the machinery was a little odd to see in the wooden table. “Sorry about that, I couldn’t leave the cold brew, welcome to Horned Halo Café! What can I get you?”

“Right… um...” She looked at the glass display containing the cakes. The names are a little weird, some were borderline cheesy. “I’ll have a large bubble milk tea and that… _ Halo-misu _ slice.”

“One large bubble milk tea and one slice of _ Halo-misu _cake,” she repeated, punching the items from the touchscreen. “Is this for dine-in or take out?”

“Dine-in.”

“Okay! One second, please!” The vintage cash register churned out a receipt after Aira paid for her food. The cash register’s money drawer slide out with a bell sound as one of the registry's button pushed down on its own, the barista counted her change before handing it to her, taking the receipt from the old machine and put one to the wooden tray that she slid to the side, the copy of the receipt was taken to the working area. Aira was given a pager so she can take a seat, to which she did, sitting at a table near the bar, she watched how she works as she waited, which thankfully didn’t take too long. The barista served the drink and cake and rang her pager. The girl smiled at her as she approached to take the tray in exchange for the pager, “enjoy your drink and cake!”

Aira has no idea how she does it, how she can be so bubbly at this time of the day. As she went back to her table, she inspected her drink and her cake: the cake’s mascarpone cream layers are so neat to look at, the coffee glaze of the thin sponge cake is present on both sides. The pearls on the bubble tea are generously put, and she didn’t hesitate to almost fill the entire glass with milk tea. She glanced at the barista now cleaning a few tables here and there, her breakfast is certainly more than enough to power her up until lunchtime comes.

The tiramisu cake’s fluffy sponge cake and mascarpone cream rolled in her tastebuds easily, The soft, fluffy texture of the cake filled her heart with glee. She can taste the coffee blending with the cocoa powder and vanilla and mascarpone frosting melting altogether in her mouth, there’s a slight tinge of sweetness on the first bite and a soft aftertaste of coffee. The bubble milk tea has a stronger taste of black tea than milk, it wasn’t too sweet that she’ll easily get sick of it, and the generous amount of chewy, smooth pearls in her drink is a plus.

Just what the hell is up with this shop and they’re selling _ divine drinks and cakes?_

Aira finished her meal, more than satisfied. The food elevated her mood in more ways than she can imagine. The barista was cleaning again, and another woman oversaw the bar and tended to the new customers that recently arrived. The woman who served Aira her meal was cleaning the table beside her. She went to the little figurine of a house that served as the tip jar from the counter and slipped a five-dollar bill. She waved at the barista who’s now mopping the floor in passing, “thanks for the meal.”

Aira’s so close to stepping out of the café when someone grabbed her sleeve, “w-wait!” The barista immediately let go when she turned to her, there’s a nervous smile plastered on her, but she doesn’t know why. “U-Um, why don’t you stay here for a little bit?”

She looked at her, puzzled. “Sorry, but I really have to go─”

“N-No, um, we actually… do have a promo today,” she smiled, though it doesn’t reach her eyes. The barista’s still high-strung, but for what reason, Aira doesn’t have any idea. “We have one free cake slice of the same product for everyone who orders one of our cakes.”

“Oh, can I just have it for takeout, I have to go to work─”

“Sorry! This promo’s only limited as a dine-in.” She persuaded, “I really don’t want for the promo to go to waste.”

There was a haggard look on the barista’s face, Aira glanced around the shop and its posters, there’s nothing in there that will indicate that they have a buy one get one promo for buying a cake. “I don’t see any flyers or posters about the promo.”

“W-We haven’t put it up yet, it starts today.” Her tone grew soft to the point of almost begging at her, “...please…?”

Aira didn’t know what compelled her to do it, but she sat back onto her previous seat. The woman abandoned the cleaning materials and washed her hands from behind the bar to serve her another platter of tiramisu slice, Aira didn’t have it in her to complain when their food was good, though she still can’t shake the idea that something is up, and something is looking at her that is leaving a burning sensation on her skin that’s enough to make it crawl. 

“I hope you enjoy it the second time.” The barista now got back to her tools for cleaning. She looked outside, from the reflection, she was glaring hard at whoever it was outside.

Aira glanced at whoever she was looking at and found someone directly _ staring _at her, blood-colored eyes so passionately trained upon her that matches the dark, burnt-like hands and claws and multiple fangs. She held her breath, immediately looking away and back to the tiramisu she was given, throat going dry as she remembered how the demon looked at her. Her dream earlier now resurfacing before she eyed the barista who gave her the food, finally understanding why she didn’t let her out.

She was no ordinary barista, and she was trying to protect her from the demon who has most likely stalked her since she went out of her house.

Aira tried to enjoy the free tiramisu slice given to her, but it was beginning to become a lump stuck in her throat that she was trying to swallow hard, the overwhelming burning sensation of someone keeping watch of her was something she never thought will feel again. Since childhood, she was followed by them for reasons she’s still yet to find, though they stopped for almost a decade, and now they’re back, and with a sinister intention, she can’t understand why.

The barista headed out and confronted the demon waiting outside for Aira with a polite smile on her face as far as what she can see from the windows. The demon was baffled, he slowly backed away from the barista and moved onto somewhere else. She kept an eye on him, making sure that he’s far enough that he wouldn’t be able to stalk Aira further. Aira had no idea how their conversation went, nor what did the barista say to the demon to make him leave, but him leaving sparked relief that she could cry in the café.

The barista went back inside the shop and resumed cleaning before putting the tools she used into a small cabinet that’s in the wall itself. Aira breathed easily now, slowly but surely enjoying the free slice of cake. At least it was something good that came out of the incident, and she was more than grateful at the barista who did something to her stalker so she can feel a little safer walking alone now.

Aira put in a ten-dollar bill in the tip jar to silently thank the barista for what she did. She cleared her throat to get her attention behind the bar. She looked at her curiously, waiting for her to say something.

“... Thank you…” she looked down and onto the barista’s nameplate. “... Arcadia.”

She smiled at her. “It’s no problem. Be safe out there.”

Aira knew Arcadia meant something deeper with it than a simple statement to say goodbye to her.


	5. Chapter 5

Work was… well, slightly bearable. Aira’s boss knew better than to ask her to do more trivial designing for the new race that will be released soon, but she had to sit through a 4-hour meeting that ended up to be a waste. The group barely had anything going on for them that will move the agenda for the company, they ultimately had to take a break for lunch as they were going in circles, Aira couldn’t be gladder to be able to stretch her legs and leave the _goddamn meeting room_ for a short moment.

And of course, after it, Aira had to do _something_ else after she was done with lunchtime: she had to draw a new set of concept designs for the new weapon pack they will release along with the new race of the game. _Better to start now than to sacrifice my me time back in the apartment. _She turned on her computer and positioned her drawing tablet to be more comfortable working, turning on the program she needed to start working for it.

Her hand drew a couple of lines with her tablet to get her groove in and to get her creative juices flowing. The theme given was something about divinity, a topic she’s all too familiar with. Her coworkers never knew where she gets her inspiration from, and she always seemed to understand what holy figures and demons should look like as stated by her boss. Aira’s always adamant to never let anybody know of her secret, she always deemed none of them is ready to know nor should they know.

“Have you watched the news last night?” One of her male coworkers behind her started chatting to someone next to him. “Damn, they're really insisting that Jenny Millers’ death is an isolated case. I’m still hung up on seeing her face in the news… It’s going to be difficult trying to watch one without thinking that she’ll appear after the headline.”

“Bah, those policemen who handled the investigation are liars,” her coworker replied strongly. “They’re trying to make us think that it’s not related to the investigative reporting she was covering for weeks, don’t let ‘em. They didn’t even bother to hide that she was murdered! It was a poor attempt to cover-up that someone from the case she’s on the trail with wants her dead.”

“I’m wondering if any of the reporters will continue her legacy...”

The other man sighed. “I doubt it, and I won’t blame them. The story already took the life of a journalist, they’re gonna be too rattled to mess with someone in power.”

Jenny Millers… the investigative journalist who was looking through the case of different intelligence and secret services collaborating with one another and with another hidden organization, one that none of them still know, but they were dangerous as far as anyone can tell. Aira watched the news last night: Jenny’s husband was the one who reported of her death and he broke down and cried in the middle of it. Her heart broke as she watched him ugly-cry in front of the whole country that they had to cut the show early. She doesn’t know if it’s morally right for the news channel to let him report about it in the first place, but at least they didn’t force him to continue reporting when it was obvious they can’t and instead reserved the continuation of the news for another day.

There was nothing new from the attempts to repress the media, some channels and news companies have submitted to the growing demands of those people in power to silence the truth, to be part of the propaganda to placate the masses and to keep them docile. Aira can name a few publications on the top of her head, a couple of them under fire from the few articles they’ve released. Aira has read some after she saw the criticisms to see how bad the suppression and the truth manipulation is, her stomach grew sick the deeper she’s read the articles downplaying the gruesome effects of the rising violence in the USA and the attempt to prevent any word of it from getting out to the press on how grave the situation in hand is.

It’s borderline inhumane for the sake of money and power, but it’s what is running the world, to keep you on top of the food chain, but as pessimistic Aira can be, she still believes there’s a chance that things will change for the better, that soon, things are not going to be the same and they will get their retribution and the peace and healing that will come after.

It might be a little romantic, but Aira still had hope for things to change, after all, there’s still good in this world, and hopefully, the good and the truth will come out on top despite the attempts for a crackdown to keep the greedy bastards stay where they are.

From the corner of her eye, a bright, flaring flash caught her attention, making her break her concentration and look up from the screen. There was nothing there, only a dark corner where no one’s passing by at the moment. Her other coworker who was at the other side of the tabled remained unbothered, his eyes still glued to the screen. No one else was bothered in the room. Was it just her imagination? A warning from her body to rest her eyes?

And then it appeared again, this time, she immediately looked up. She spotted wisp-like golden flame with thin, sheet-like wings, she raised an eyebrow at it as it skittered towards her, wings flapping wildly to stay afloat. Aira moved slowly away from her table, eyes vigilantly trained at the creature who continued flying its way to her.

The wisp-like light stopped its track a few feet away. Aira held her breath, still glaring at it. The creature flashed a bright light, there soon became two, and then they both glowed, becoming four, it kept making copies of itself until they were more than a dozen in numbers. Aira froze in shock and fear on her seat as she looked at the swarm. They all charged at her, the violent buzzing noises of their rapidly flapping wings were enough for Aira’s head to scream at her to start running.

“Shit!”

It startled Aira’s coworkers, but they were the least of her problems when a swarm of winged holy flames were chasing her. She pushed a coworker away when they blocked the way, yelling out an apology as she kept running to the emergency exit. She jumped over a couple of steps down the staircase, not minding the impact of it as long as she can get the lead away from the creatures.

A few flames got to her, searing her skin and clothes that left a red mark upon her. She yelped at the sharp and sudden pain, though it wasn’t enough to stop her from running, and she wasn’t going to slow down anytime soon as long as she was being chased.

“Leave me alone!” she yelled, the people who heard her grew confounded. It was hard to care about what others might think, all that was in her head was to get away from the flying flames. Aira ran out of the building and into the sidewalk, shoving people away from her route. More and more holy flames reached her, burning her skin that she groaned from the sensation. Her arms flailed wildly to get them away from her, some can see the sudden appearance of the burn holes from her clothes and the scorches upon her, but none of them can see why they happen. Tearfully, Aira continued to swat them away in vain as they all flew towards her. 

She tripped on a pavement and fell onto the ground, but with a last-ditch attempt to get away, she hurriedly crawled back into the pedestrian lane as other people moved away to avoid stepping on her. Some squealed when their ankles touched her hands. Aira covered her face and curled up in the middle of the road, groaning and whimpering when they still didn’t stop burning her. “Just leave me alone! Stop!”

The sound of footsteps, the whispers of people, and cars blaring their horns were too much, all of them mixing in her head that she can’t make out what the noise should be anymore. None of them were making sense, yet at the same time, all of them were blasting in her head separately. Aira kept crying in pain and in despair. Shakily, she screamed from the top of her lungs, “Leave me alone!”

The truck came to a screeching halt and blared its horn to Aira who was still shaking, slowly pulling her arms away from her face. A kind group of people helped her get up, softly asking if she was alright, Aira couldn’t answer them, still dizzy and unable to think of something coherent to say. She weakly walked back to her work building, clothes still tattered, but she didn’t have any choice, she can only hope that there are no more supernatural that will attack her that day.

_Why are they doing this?_ It was a question that swirled in her head as she used the elevator to go back to her table in the office. Derek, his only friend in the company, with his early gray hairs and wrinkles, approached her, worriedly inspecting the holes and the burns. 

“Jesus, Aira, what happened to you?”

“I...” She croaked, “I-I… I don’t know, Derek─”

He patted her back comfortingly, she broke down and sobbed as she gripped his arms. Derek quietly soothed her with a gentle hug, though it did nothing to lift Aira’s spirits up, all she could do was cry forlornly as Derek led her back to the now-empty meeting room to let her sob as much as she wanted to, and after what happened to her, God, Aira does need a quiet time to cry it out.

* * *

Aira’s boss let her take the time off after what happened, citing that she may be too stressed and exhausted from all the work that was assigned to her (and Aira didn’t know if she should be surprised that her boss knows she was being unreasonable with her demands from time to time) despite the evidence of her being attacked was present, and told Derek to bring her home to make sure she'll be safer as per his request as well. Currently, in Derek's old car, Aira stared out of the passenger window, not paying attention to what was happening. She’d visibly wince when she’d spot an angel or a demon on the streets, but so far, none of them were _actively_ looking for her at the moment. Still, whenever she’ll see one, she wanted to crawl under her seat and curl up to herself, on the brink of tears once more.

Derek didn’t fail to notice it. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing, I’m… just...” Aira leaned back from her seat and chewed her bottom lip. “I’m just tired, that’s all. I promise it’s nothing serious.”

Derek’s eyes were still on her, fingers tapping against the driving wheel before he turned back to the road, shaking his head. “I know you hate it when people fuss over you, but you’re like a sister, and whatever happened to you… that’s not normal─”

“Derek, I’m fine,” Aira stubbornly insisted. “Just… keep driving, I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Right...”

Admittedly, it was a bad reaction on Aira’s part, and she does hate it, hate that she reacted that way to someone who has voiced out their concern for her, but she can’t help it, and she’s too embarrassed to say sorry right now, not when her head’s still filled with the flaming wisps that attacked her and the stalker who wanted to kill her earlier from the café.

She bit the inside of her lip hard that it bled, only letting go when she tasted iron in her mouth. Nothing’s still coming up in her head _ why _they wanted to kill her, why she was hunted down. Did she hurt a demon? An angel?

There’s still the pressing matter of the uncomfortable silence between her and Derek throughout the ride, and both of them didn’t want to address it until she’s home. She got out of the car, but before she can close the door, Derek leaned to keep it open with one arm. “Aira, tell me what’s going on when you’re comfortable, alright?”

It took her a few seconds before she nodded at him. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

“Okay.” He finally straightened to his chair with both of his hands on the steering wheel. She closed the door before he drove off as she walked back to her room where she immediately plopped herself down on her bed, head still reeling at the recent attack that occurred. They didn’t bother her when she was a kid, a borderline nuisance at best before they left her for more than a decade. What changed? _ Why now? Why did they come back now? _

There was a loud bang that came downstairs, causing Aira to sigh and shake her head. Her neighbor downstairs is probably playing some god knows what it is. She won’t bother to tell them to shut up, there’s someone that will tell them to do it, and besides, all they’re going to get is a noise complaint letter and nothing else. She should know, she tried it before.

She got the rest of the day for herself, and she’s not about to sleep soon at this rate, anyway. She took the pen tablet from her bag and then her laptop to work on the designs assigned to her. For now, she'll work until she gets exhausted to keep functioning anymore.

* * *

Aira went to work the next day despite the grogginess and overall exhaustion for staying up until 3 AM. She only has herself to blame for it, but at least she managed to sleep commuting her way to work. So far, she wasn’t met with any hostility from any creature even during her work, but it’s still too early to tell, and she’d rather not grow too complacent of the short time of peace and quiet the day has offered to her.

“Aira, you didn’t have to come to work today,” Derek immediately said to her while holding his freshly-brewed coffee when he spotted her. “Are you doing better?”

“_Dad_, I’m fine.” She smirked when his eyes widened in shock from the name-calling. She playfully punched his shoulder before putting it back to her hoodie’s pocket, “thanks for getting worried, though, but I’m fine, trust me, I’m okay.”

“Alright, if you’re sure…” He turned away while taking a sip of his hot drink, “and I told you what I feel about being called ‘dad’! You never listen to me!”

Aira giggled and watched Derek walk away and go back to his table. She made herself a hot cup of coffee as well, glancing at the window. A raven with two pairs of glowing red eyes flew towards it as if looking back at her. Her chest tightened, gripping her mug as she took a step back.

The bird perched on top of the window's railing, tilting its head to her before it cuckooed and flew away from the glass, only to glide back at a fast speed to butt its head against the clear barrier. Aira, in shock, shakily stepped back that some of the mug's content spilled. With another headbutt against the window, Aira hurriedly went out of the room and back into her table, letting out a breath that she’s been holding in.

Her fingers quivered as she picked up her pen to start working, hand dancing on top of the tablet to think of something else instead, ultimately only drawing a couple of jagged lines with nothing coming out of fruition for hours. Her head hung low, shaking as if it can get the image of the raven butting its head against the window from her mind.

A sudden tap on her back almost made her jump and protectively hug herself, but she immediately settled down as she recognized it was a coworker of hers who smiled and didn’t think much of her reaction while Aira tried to play it cool. “Hey,” she greeted softly, matching the gentle yet enthusiastic smile she’s wearing. “We’re going out to buy snacks, you want something?”

“Ah, n-no, thank you. I’m good.”

“Oh, okay, um… well,” she scratched her hair and nodded in understanding. “Alright. Oh, and um...” She squinted at her hoodie and handed her a tissue, “coffee stains. Try scrubbing it off with white vinegar before throwing it to the laundry.”

“I… I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.” Aira managed to give her a polite smile before resuming her work. She warily glanced at the window close to where she was working: no sign of the raven, at least that’s a good sign that she’s not being followed… for now. She’ll take whatever victory she can find at the moment, anything that will help her go on for the rest of her day.

* * *

Aira, for the most part, was left alone by the supernatural. After the raven, nothing else has followed up in the attack, and the best part of today was they were allowed to leave the premises early due to your boss wanting to celebrate her aunt’s birthday and she wanted to come early to the venue. Aira’s not one to complain when the occasion benefits her, she needed the time off to go home as early as she can.

But while she was at the bus station, something otherworldly crept up on her nape. Her hand covered it up and scoped on what was behind her: no one’s onto her as far as she can see, there are half-angels and half-demons, but all of them were busy waiting for the train stop. _I’m being paranoid…_ She turned around again, and a few seconds later, she felt pairs of eyes were on her. She stilled her thoughts, closing her eyes to do a handful of breathing exercises in an attempt to still her heartbeat. No one was trailing her, there was no reason to be afraid.

She went inside the bus that arrived, taking her seat when she saw one available. Still, the feeling of someone’s eyes searing right into the back of her nape remained. She inspected the people she’s with, finding nothing that could be a threat to her safety. She turned back again, putting her earphones on in hopes that she’ll be able to forget what was going on.

The heavy traffic was a bitch to deal with, her butt is numbing from her seat, and her exhaustion is making her sleep, but she fought against it, her bus stop is almost close, and if she falls asleep, she’ll most likely miss it.

Though, on the way home, Aira, from afar, saw the large church is illuminated by its own lights and the street lamps. A quiet place amidst the noise of Los Angeles. Aira admittedly hasn’t prayed and attended mass for some time, too busy with work, but right now, with what happened to her, she’s more than compelled to say a little prayer and ask for protection. Was it a selfish move? Perhaps, but humans were known to be selfish and only ask the Man when they need something, surely, God will be able to forgive her easily for it.

The church was silent, save for the soft footsteps by the last religious person who left the church to go on with the rest of their day, an old grandmother who smiled at Aira when she passed by her to which she managed to smile back as she left the building. Now alone in the big building, Aira couldn’t help but look at the marbled and gilded altar and then to the large statue of crucified Jesus, finding solace under the sorrowful eyes of the Son of God.

She almost missed the tall figure clad in black checking the items in the communion box. _ So I’m not alone at the moment… _She tilted her head, a pair of small, soft smoke trailing from his back, as if there should be wings there, and they were easy to miss with the cassock, when he turned around into the altar table that she got a good view of his face, Aira’s driven to believe that he might be one.

The priest saw her and gave a curt nod to her direction, Aira did the same, albeit awkwardly that made her mentally hit herself as she rubbed her temple, shaking her head. She hung her head low to avoid looking at the priest and huffed. “God, please, let me forget this happened today...”

She managed to compose herself and tried to pray for serenity, but she inevitably glanced at the priest again who is now rearranging the flowers on either side of the steps. He was a handsome man, objectively speaking: well-defined jawline, high cheekbones, his beard is groomed well. The scars that decorated his face didn’t make him uglier, not even a single bit. In fact, it heightened his beauty, in a sense. Now she’s curious of his past and where did he get those and how did he become someone who’s working in a church.

He paused and glanced at Aira. Her heart pounded when their eyes met, gasping and immediately looking away, curling to herself, huffing. Her cheeks turning red. Gabriel smirked and shook his head, looking back at the arrangement he’s supposed to do. Though, he stopped and turned around. Immediately, he was on high alert, looking at the church’s doorway and then to the girl.

Aira got up from the pew she sat on to leave, but before she can take another step away from it, Gabriel was in front of her with a gentle smile and his arms on his back, trying to look as non-threateningly as he can. Aira, was of course, surprised, but rather than threatened, she’s more confused more than anything as to why the priest was there. She didn’t say her prayers too loud, right?

“Did you come with someone else to the church?”

_What now?_ Aira looked at the priest, confused. “N-No, I came here alone.”

Gabriel glanced at the shadow figures behind her. “They’re not your friends, then.”

Aira finally turned around and gasped, her instincts turned to fight or flight as she backed away from the six shadow figures who are now inside the church, the sinister aura of _killing_ was practically in her nose. Her mind blanked out in fear, Gabriel caught her in his arms, eyes focused on the dark smogs with visible claws.

“When I let go, hide behind the church’s altar,” he whispered to her, still keeping an eye out on the lesser demons. Aira nodded, shaking in fear, but tried to be strong for the sake of showing face. It was easier to feel safer when a protective arm is wrapped around her, she kept her composure when the shadow warriors grumbled that can shake the ground at how low they were.

They floated from the floor, attached in their arms were jagged phantom blades that can bleed a man the second it grazes skin. Aira didn’t dare to look at their faces, if there are any features to look at all. Gabriel can only perceive the shape of a head in the shade of complete and total darkness. His hold on the girl grew tighter as his brows almost met, jaw tightening. _Damn it!_ If he knew this would happen, he wouldn’t leave his guns under his bed.

He slipped his hand into his cassock’s pocket, reaching for his rosary and whispered a prayer. The rosary grew red hot in touch, but it doesn’t burn him. He squeezed Aira’s upper arm to warn her that he’ll let go soon, Aira grew more and more skittish at the situation present and the deadly tension between them and the shadows. As Gabriel let go, she almost tripped making a beeline towards the altar table.

A shadow leaped to attack her, but the priest pulled out the rosary and tied it around the phantom’s neck, strangling it. It struggled to get away, trying to cut off the priest’s arms, but Gabriel knew better and kept his arms together, keeping them out of reach of the demon’s blades. The other wraiths flew towards him, blades clasped together to pierce him. Gabriel snapped the creature’s neck in half, killing it before turning into a cloud of smoke to escape them, materializing to a safe distance. The lesser demons growled menacingly, the shrill of their voices blending into the air, creating a heavy atmosphere in what is supposed to be a safe haven for the sheep of the Lord. Aira shivered under the table, every bit of her tendril was shaken by the spectres’ growl even with her ears covered by her palms that she curled up. Gabriel cocked his head left and right, his fists all balled up with the red hot holy rosary, ready to fight.

The demons jumped again to get him, but Gabriel turned into a fog and swiftly moved on top of one of the pews, slinging the rosary to one of them that it howled, the unholy screech reverberating in the thick walls of the church. He flung the cross towards the rest, hitting another, but before he can react fast enough, one zoomed to him and made a slash on his arm as he was getting away. Gabriel winced in pain and covered it with his other hand, groaning. “It’s gonna be a bitch to wash the blood off...”

Another demon roared and flew towards Gabriel, its blades angled to be driven deep into him, but he evaded before it can land a hit. Another one tried to do the same, Gabriel barely got away, but his cassock’s skirt tore when the blade caught it. He hissed inwardly, gripping the rosary tightly before lashing it to one of them. As if it grew a mind of its own, the rosary stretched longer and wrapped around the demon’s waist who howled in pain as it burned. As Gabriel coiled and twisted it tightly, the demon screeched and then blew up, dissipating. There’s still four more that he has to take care of, making him groan in annoyance.

Gabriel then raised his arm towards them, taking a deep breath as he glared at the demons. “_Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas,_” he chanted, the demons screeched and growled, their sinister intentions grew more potent as their shrouds pulled away and then snap back to their bodies, affected by the prayer being chanted. “_Omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, in nomine et virtute Domini Nostri Jesu!_”

The priest chanted the prayer over and over as he tightened his hold over his rosary, using the prayer for them to struggle and forcibly put their guards down, Gabriel took his chance and whipped his weapon to two demons who screamed out loud before turning into smoke. A demon cut through his other arm. Gabriel recoiled in pain, but through it, he caught the other demon, wrapping the rosary around its neck. He turned to where the other is, forcing the demon on the chokehold to turn with him just in time for the other spectre about to stab him to stab its companion instead. He transformed into a mass of smog and then caught the demon with his rosary as he turned back into a human, letting the rosary coil around it. With a howl as the rosary tightened, the demon finally dispelled into thin air. The church was peaceful once again.

Gabriel turned to the altar table, checking if Aira’s still there safe and sound. He squatted down to find the girl curled up and cowering, covering her ears with her palms as she shut her eyes tight. He reached out for her, the sensation of his hand touching her made her jump. “It’s me,” Gabriel said gently. Aira looked at him, still terrified. He continued reassuring her, holding his hand out, “it’s alright now, the threat’s over. You can come out.”

Aira soon stopped shaking, the fear in her eyes disappearing. Slowly, cautiously, she accepted the priest’s hand. He pulled her out of the altar table and helped her find her balance to stand up by holding both of her arms. With Gabriel being much taller than the girl, it was easy to let her use his body as a support. Soon, Aira pulled away, blushing slightly.

“Thank you, father...” She cleared her throat quietly. “Your wounds─”

Gabriel glanced down at them and then sighed. “Don't worry about them. I'll be fine, I've had worse.”

_What could be worse than fighting a demon and being wounded by them? _she wanted to ask, but instead, she pursed her lips. Her eyes wandered around the church, seeing the aftermath of the fight: the destroyed pews, the blade marks along the walls and flooring that she couldn't help but think how is the priest going to fix the mess, until her eyes stopped at the rosary he’s holding. “That rosary… I know what I saw, that’s not normal.”

He smirked. “Great observation.”

Aira fought the urge to frown at the priest’s sarcasm. “What’s it made of?”

“Apparently the beads are made of arrows that shot Saint Sebastian.” Gabriel put the rosary back in his pocket. Aira shot him a confused look, he shook his head. “Don’t ask, even I don’t know how they retrieved the arrows and made a rosary out of it.”

If this was any other day, Aira would be in the mood to argue, but it wasn’t. She looked down and only nodded in agreement at not asking more questions about the rosary. Gabriel observed her for a couple of minutes and then led her down to one of the pews. He sat beside her and began patting her back as Aira took deep breaths. “You’re safe now, it’s alright.” He clasped his hands together, still looking at her. “Mind telling me why those demons are hunting you?”

“Oh, not just demons, father.” Aira chuckled, high-strung at the memory from yesterday. “Yesterday, the holy flames from above tried to kill me.” She covered her face with her palms, hiccupping under her breath, frustration and fear bubbling up to her chest. Gabriel’s brows furrowed at the mention of ‘_holy flames_’.

“Even the angels have it out on you?”

She nodded, tearing up. “God… fuck… I know it’s unlikely that they’ll attack someone but they did, they attacked me. I still have my burnt jacket to prove it.”

Gabriel’s mind wandered back to the holy war in the making: no reasonable angels would attack someone without someone from a higher hierarchy ordering them to do so, there _has _to be a reason why she’s being hunted down by both the angels and demons and this could be the beginning of it. She _has_ a role to play, but Gabriel wouldn’t know what it is if she’ll die immediately from the supernatural.

Aira rubbed the tears from her eyes, sniffing. “Shit, I… I should go home, I still have work tomorrow.” Aira checked her belongings before getting up of the pew, “thank you, again, father, for saving my life─”

Gabriel grabbed her wrist. As Aira turned to him, he was directly looking at her eyes. “Don’t.”

“...F-Father?”

“They know where you live, and they’re more likely getting more aggressive with their attacks, it’s evident with what happened to you with the angels and then the spectre demons today. Some of them might already be waiting for you at your home and then kill you while you sleep. Or before, they’re known to not care whether someone will sleep or not.” Gabriel’s hold on her wrist grew tighter. “You should find another place to sleep.”

“Father, I don’t… I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she reasoned out, voice cracking like point she gave to the priest. “If… If I go somewhere else, they’ll still stalk me, and then what? I’m only going to put other people in danger. It’s not worth it.”

“How about you sleep here?”

Aira balked and almost laughed at Gabriel’s suggestion. “Are you kidding me?”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m only suggesting.”

“That was a terrible suggestion. No offense. What would people think if they see someone who’s not working in the church waking up and then seen with you?”

“Well, I saved your life, I was thinking that maybe you’d feel more comfortable if I’m around.” He leaned back against his seat and then let go of her wrist. “Apparently not. Well, you still can’t go home. I’m sure they have their weapons ready to stab you the moment you step foot to your house.”

As much as Aira hated it, he was right: her apartment hasn’t been the safest place to stay, and there were more and more creatures stalking her, and if they are going to kill her, then waiting for her to be home might be the smartest move to do. She’s never felt this kind of defeat before, and it’s making her breath hitch up in her throat. She didn’t want to die, not that way, at least. “What… What should I do?”

“Stay somewhere else.”

“I told you I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Then it doesn’t have to be your friend’s house, then.” Gabriel crossed his arms and contemplated the names of the people he knows in his head. He soon huffed and led Aira back to sit down. “Wait here.”

From his other pocket, Gabriel pulled out his phone as he walked away near the church’s door and dialed a number. He placed a hand on his hip, biting his lower lip as he waited for the person on the other line to answer his call. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long before the call is picked up as he expected.

“_Ah, Gabriel… I think I already know what this is. I was starting to wonder when will I hear from you again._”

“Ana, I’ve got a favor to ask.”


	6. Chapter 6

Ana was kind enough to agree to let Aira stay in her home which wasn’t quite far from the church Gabriel works in. As he was the one who knows where it is between the two of them, he offered Aira to drive her there. The girl initially grew worried about letting Gabriel out of the church with his wounds still out in the open, but when Aira looked at them, they were gone, baffling her. The second was the damages of the church after the fight that ensued: how will the priest fix all of them as if nothing happened?

Gabriel only rolled his eyes and then his sleeves, he murmured an incantation, and seconds later, small wisps of lights floated from the crevices of the church, touching all of the damages that occurred, and in a matter of minutes, the entire place was fixed, as if nothing happened in the first place that left the woman slack-jawed as she watched everything unfold with her own eyes.

She was about to ask questions, but since the priest insisted on driving her immediately to the apartment, Aira dropped the subject and let him do what he wanted to do. She needed someplace where she didn’t have to think about her safety, anyway, and the priest has provided it. Besides, her life isn’t all that sane, so her pointing out how he can do all this magic when she knows there are supernatural creatures and no logical explanation will come out as hypocritical of her.

Thankfully, Gabriel considered that she hasn’t had dinner yet and treated her to something in a diner before they went on their way to the apartment, but neither of them said anything to each other, making the atmosphere between them awkward until they arrived at the antiquated apartment building.

On the doorway as they stood at the hall, it looked like it was merely another apartment room with the number _ 15 _ on the door, but what caught her eye immediately was something else was etched on the doorway below the room number, and it wasn’t easy to miss, either as it was a rather large etching on it. Aira looked at it curiously as she stood in front of the block of wood while Gabriel got the keys from the landlord.

“Father,” Aira called out to him as he headed upstairs while pointing at the carving: the Eye of Horus inside a pyramid with a Christian cross on top. There’s faint energy emitting from it. “What’s this for?”

“Ah.” Gabriel moved towards the door and then slipped the key into the knob, now looking at what Aira was pointing, “that’s a sigil said to ward those who wish harm residing in this home. It seems to work, as far as I can tell since no one has attacked her while she was staying over here.” He opened the door and made way for her to enter first. “Which is why this is the perfect place for you to stay the night.”

Aira made a small bow to him as thanks before entering the apartment room. The first thing Aira noticed is a large number of odds and ends in the room, different souvenirs from different countries all stuffed in there in an organized mess. The shelves don’t fit together, aesthetic-wise: there’s a wooden shelf, and then there’s a tree shelf beside it, and then a modern one on the other side, all of them containing items that definitely don’t fit how they look. Her face might give away the confusion she feels about the room, but Gabriel can at least commend that she didn’t say anything about the mismatched interior decorations.

_ Bedroom_, Aira needed to catch some sleep, and with how exhausted she is on the day it’s been, she could sleep just about anywhere. At least the priest is providing her with a decent room and away from those who wished to do harm to her, she can wake up the next morning without having to worry whether someone at the corner of her room is going to kill her the moment she opens her eyes.

As if sensing what she was thinking, Gabriel briskly walked and unlocked the door to what seems to be the bedroom itself. Aira thanked him before doing a once-over: the room’s clean, and unlike the state of the living room, it barely has anything else aside from a shelf full of books and trinkets, and a study table with a corkboard full of photos, there are only the basic necessities that make the room a bedroom.

“You can stay here for as long as you like, my friend doesn’t use this room as often as she should, anyway.” Gabriel checked a couple of items on the table, particularly the papers littering on top of it. “Huh… she’s been busy, I see…”

“Father.” 

Gabriel turned to the girl, who immediately asked him a question as soon as their eyes met, “who owns this place?”

“As I said, a friend of mine,” he replied. “She’ll be back here with something that can help you protect yourself from the otherworlders, but the bad news is that she’ll be here after two days starting tonight, so there’s still the matter of you unprotected for the next two days.”

“Protect me?”

“They’re not going to stop hunting you down, we can at least give you something for a better chance of survival when you’re outside and getting stalked by them.”

Aira squinted at the priest suspiciously. “Okay, this isn’t normal. What are you, father? And what’s this friend of yours doing for a living?”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at her, smirking. “You just said what I am: I’m a priest, aren’t I? And you don’t have to worry about what my friend does for a living, just be grateful that she’s helping you out. And you know what’s also not normal? You see these damn creatures and getting hunted down by them.”

Aira groaned inwardly in irritation. “Yes, you’re a priest, but what _ are _you?”

“I’m human?” Gabriel scoffed. “I’m starting to think you’re unappreciative of the people who are helping you out with your problem with the way you’re talking to me.”

“I-I’m not!”

Gabriel shook his head with a smirk, “you know… you shouldn’t ask those kinds of questions to someone you just met. I’d say it’s quite rude, don’t you think?” His tone deepened as his brown eyes stared sharply at Aira, making the girl’s hair on her nape raise, “and I’m sure you’re aware that the stories of mortals ending up seeing the things they shouldn’t see are mostly… ah… how do younger people say this…? Ah, right, fucked up.”

Aira didn’t know what’s more shocking at the moment: hearing an actual priest cuss, or is it that the priest’s gaze can kill someone. But with the way Gabriel spoke, it’ll be unwise to keep talking about the subject further.

“.... Sorry...” she mumbled under her breath like a dejected kitten. Gabriel shrugged, he has already put the event under the rug without further ado.

“I’ll see what I can do to help you with your clothing problem for tomorrow. You said you still have work. Ana never mentioned that you’re allowed to borrow her clothes.” He smirked at her, “you can always not go to work tomorrow, call in sick for the next two days so you don’t have to worry about not being able to take a bath nor a change of clothes.”

“I can’t!” she immediately protested. “We’re already in crunch time! I can’t afford to not come to work for the next couple of weeks, we have an event coming up soon and my work’s going to be featured! I’d hate to be bombarded by a bunch of angry, entitled gamers just because of a delayed release.”

“What? You’re all human working in the game, they’re going to understand if a few people got sick that caused the delay.”

“You’ve definitely never worked nor kept up with the gaming industry.”

It promptly shut Gabriel up, finding no rebuttal for that one; It was true, anyway, and he barely had the desire to play any video games, to begin with. There is something else that they have to talk about, though, other than her work for tomorrow… “What are you going to do about your clothes to work tomorrow? You can’t go wearing your clothes from yesterday, can you?”

“I could, but… I don’t wanna look like a slob...” She shivered at the thought, turning away as she winced. Gabriel chuckled and shook his head, Aira didn’t fail to notice the amused glimmer in his eyes that she glared at him out of annoyance before suggesting, “maybe you can take me back to my place so I can get a change of clothes before I go to work tomorrow. You’ll be there, I’ll be protected, seems good to me.”

“Oh, good, we’re most likely going to have a repeat of what happened at the church where I’m the one who took the beating and you’re curled up somewhere safe until the battle’s over.”

The girl blushed, too embarrassed to face the priest that she looked down and pursed her lips, blushing brightly. Not hearing any complaints nor other suggestions from her, the priest resumed talking, “I might as well let you borrow some of my old clothes. But about your undergarments, there’s probably a store still open that sells what you need─”

“Right, then I’ll go there tonight,” she immediately cut off, as if she knew where the conversation was going and she didn’t want it to go exactly that way. Aira paced to step out of the bedroom while her hand’s running along something in her jacket’s pocket, “I still have my wallet with me so I can buy something immediately─”

Gabriel grabbed her arm and pulled her back inside the room, he looked down on her wrist and spotted a slight bloody red patch forming that made him raise an eyebrow, his eyes gazed at hers intensely after. “What did I just tell you? It’s dangerous for you to be out there when they’re stalking you. You almost died tonight.”

“I-I’m not even going to take long! And I need to buy those─”

“At the cost of your own life? No,” Gabriel firmly replied. “You’ll stay here and rest until you have to go to work tomorrow.”

“B-But, Father─!”

“You’re staying here, and I’ll have someone buy what you need, instead.”

Gabriel wasn’t going to relent soon with his stance, and so, Aira reluctantly backed down from the argument, though she was obviously frowning at the priest, peeved. Under her breath, she muttered, “this is the worst… Now I have to listen to a priest...”

If Gabriel heard her, he didn’t say anything and instead left Aira alone to be in Ana’s room. Practically left with nothing else to do and no one to talk about, she lay down on the bed and huffed, staring at the ceiling as her head replayed the events that happened today and the certain priest who saved her from the brink of death. He’s still shrouded in mystery: _ what is he _, exactly? What were those smoke from her back that she saw earlier? Gabriel isn’t going to be too happy to answer the questions she has about him based on how he reacted when she asked about his past, and maybe it was because he’s so averse at letting her know that she’s now dying to know the answers.

She’s not even sure why she’s this curious, but maybe it’s only normal to be curious about the one who saved her.

_ No point in overthinking about him, though… _and she was exhausted after a long day, after all. The moment she hugged a pillow and closed her eyes, she fell into a deep slumber, dreamless, atypical of the nights preceded before this. This room was blessed far beyond than she initially imagined.

* * *

Aira woke up refreshed more than ever she ever did lately. No nightmares that startled her sleep and the bed was comfortable to sleep on. She sleepily sat up on the bed, noticing the shallow carton box on the bedside table after a few tries of having it make sense in her head. It definitely wasn’t there last night, she’s sure of that. She reached for it and opened the box, and the first thing that caught her eye was the note on top of the clothing.

_ ‘Hope this is your size!’ _ was written in cursive handwriting. When she checked, the items were six-piece underwear with a handful of bras. It doesn’t seem that the priest bought this (it merely doesn’t seem that _ he _would write in cursive), but maybe it was him who delivered the box, and whoever bought the underwear for her, they had the decency to put the items neatly in it.

Below the box of undergarments was a t-shirt and a pair of plain cargo pants. When Aira pulled up the shirt, she can conclude that it _ definitely _ is at least twice her size. “Is… this that guy’s size…?” _ Large _ , based on the tag still attached to the shirt’s neckline. _ Yeah… this should be his shirt… it should have been so obvious he’d wear this size… _

He was kind enough to let her lend a belt as well, albeit the leather was slightly worn out, but still decent enough to be used, and besides, it’s not like she’ll spend more than a day wearing his clothes… _ I hope… _

Under all the items from the box, there’s another note written in readable handwriting that says ‘_ In case you get in trouble, give me a call. _

_ xxx-xxx-xxx-xxxx _’

He got what she needed to get on with her day to go to work, she should get ready to go to the office now and maybe hope that all that’s good out there today will go off without a hitch. It gets quite tiring having to defend herself from all the creatures outside that will try to kill her.

Giving the clothes another glance once more, Aira took a deep breath to finally get started at her day to start working.

* * *

On the way to work, no one with the intent to kill Aira has approached her, which was enough to perk her mood up and get her upbeat. At the same time, there was barely any traffic jam today that got her to the building early. There was no need for her to run inside to punch her card as she arrived.

The moment Aira entered her office, a few of her coworkers quickly glanced at her direction, and she’s definitely not used to the sudden attention, though some of them looked away as quickly as they caught a glance in her direction. At least the glances didn’t last long, but what made today different anyway that they had to look at her?

She has to admit, though: the shirt _ is _comfortable. The cotton fabric was soft, and it helped that the shirt was loose, giving her room to move her arms as much as she pleases. As soon as she got to her table, she turned everything on and made quick warm-up sketches using her tablet before starting her work for the day. 

Ten minutes later, a cup of coffee was gently put on her table. When Aira looked up, Derek was looking back at her with a smirk. He sat down on his table and cleared his throat loudly that got the girl’s attention. Without turning to her while he draws, he said, “nice shirt.”

Aira squinted and tilted her head at him, raising an eyebrow at the sudden coffee making for her. “... Thanks?”

“Where’d you get it?”

“Why are you so interested all of a sudden?”

“Well… you only wear a handful of shirts when you go to work. Is that shirt yours, though?”

Aira’s eyebrow raised, her lips curling into a frown. “Why are you suddenly interested in the shirts I own?”

Derek shrugged. “Just wondering. You don’t go shopping for your clothes that often.”

“It’s new,” she quickly replied. “I just bought it yesterday, and I was looking for something more comfortable, anyway. Why am I telling you this…?”

He chuckled good-naturedly. “Come on, it’s not always you come to work wearing a different sweater other than your gray hoodie or your blue shirt. It’s just a nice change of pace, no need to get so grumpy about it.”

“I’m not.”

Derek snorted, skeptical of her claim, but Aira ignored it. “Well… alright….”

Soon, everything has gone back to quiet again (or as quiet as it can be in the environment), and Aira has been working efficiently. In the pants’ pocket, she absentmindedly fiddled with something that’s stuck in there. But the more she toyed with it along her fingers, the more she became aware that something might be in there. Without anyone looking, she pulled the item out, the cold sensation of metal greeted the pad of her fingers, and when she checked it out, it was a string of beads that followed, each of them delicately carved with runes and curves.

Gabriel’s holy rosary.

From it, there was a folded note that hid the cross: ‘_ hopefully, you’ll have no use for this, but I thought you might need a weapon just in case. Meet me in church after work. _’

Aira reread the note three times before she clutched it in her palm and kept the rosary back into where she got it. A wave of comfort washed through her veins. She’ll have to thank the priest later for going as far as lending something important and holy to make her feel protected. It was a sweet gesture, causing her to smile as she thumbed along with the item through her pocket one final time before she resumed her work.

Though, at some point, Aira can feel a certain presence stalking her, though as she looked around, there was no one in her office that was out of place: her coworkers are still there, minding their business and whatnot, some are rushing too many important files that they can’t take the time to bother anyone else unless they have to, and some are taking their time off in the office, she spotted someone sleeping on their table with a pen in hand. Surely, none of these people are demons or angels in disguise that wanted to kill her.

Until she looked out of the window and spotted the raven once again perched upon a tree branch directly looking at her. Aira froze in where she sat, lips tightening while keeping an eye on the creature. It tilted its head at her, and she slowly reached for the rosary, waiting for it to make a move towards her, but the bird only kept its distance from her before it flew away without so much a caw that came out of it. Her eyes followed it as it went away, still confused why it was there in the first place. Was it keeping an eye on her? What for?

The wariness still lingered while Aira worked, but there’s nothing else for her to do now, and on the brighter side, nothing else happened, and she was able to do some of her work (some of the designs she promised she’ll redo once she feels better), but it may be better that she had to tell Gabriel about it to be sure.

A slight burning tinge interrupted her train of thoughts. She checked her left wrist: the spot that the priest checked last night grew redder and formed a faint sigil that she can’t make out what it is. Aira opened a new canvas and drew the lines and shapes that she can make out of from the sigil and had it printed, checking it again to see if there’s anything about it that was familiar to her, though she soon gave up when nothing came up to her mind. As she put the folded paper in her pocket, she clutched on the rosary again, murmuring quiet prayers until her hands stopped shaking. The raven wasn’t there anymore, and the mark stopped growing. She’s safe from anything that might cause her harm, or whatever that might be out to get her. She’s safe from those damn shadows that tried to kill her yesterday. She has something that she can use to protect herself from whatever harm that will try it. She’s safe. _ I’m okay. _

She’s safe.

* * *

Just as Gabriel said from his note, Aira came back to the church, clutching the rosary tightly during the commute. The walk to church from the bus stop was short, and as she got there, Gabriel was already waiting outside of the building for her. As soon as he spotted her, he walked briskly towards her. Before Aira can say anything, Gabriel initiated the conversation, “nothing followed you today, I hope?”

She shook her head and smiled gently at him, handing him her rosary, “uh… thanks for this. It… really helped with calming me down, you know.”

Gabriel nodded in acknowledgment and took the rosary from her hands, putting it in his robe’s pocket. “Care to follow me? There’s something that I need to know. It is important.”

He led her into the old library of the church. The girl couldn’t help but cough at the cobwebs and dust that made their way to her face. She scrunched her nose and frowned at Gabriel, “you’re not… leading me to someplace where you can kill me, aren’t you? This seems suspicious.”

“If I was trying to kill you, I would not have given you my rosary to protect you,” he smirked as they stepped down the stairs, “don’t be too paranoid, after all, I’ve helped you _ twice _, there’s no reason for me to kill you, anyway.”

He has a point, Aira can begrudgingly accept that. Still, what are they doing down here in an antique and worn-down place like this?

Gabriel picked up a book from the shelf and placed it on the reading stand, flipping through a couple of pages and skimming the texts. The pages are about to fall apart, and if he won’t handle it carefully, it might as well do it in the priest’s hands. Unsure of what to do, Aira watched Gabriel and the little serious scowl that he had while looking down at the pages, unable to stop herself from chuckling under her breath as she looked away and cleared her throat. He looked up to her, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “What is it?”

“J-Just dust.” Aira feigned brushing dust off her shirt and waved her hand in the air. “Kind of dusty library you got here, father.”

“Not as bad as it used to be before. There’s no dust that came to your eye, I hope?”

“N-No.”

“Good.” He went back to looking through the pages. He held his hand out without looking up. “Can I see your left wrist?”

Aira did, knowing what the priest wanted to see, and as she expected, Gabriel wasn’t delighted to see the lines and circle that’s starting to show on the spot. “Some of these weren’t here last night...”

The hold on her wrist tightened as he tried to decipher what it was until she handed him a piece of paper of what she’d drawn earlier in her office. Gabriel, realizing what she gave him, let go of her wrist and then poured his attention on the paper, connecting the lines and remembering sigils on the top of his head. Aira took a deep breath as she bit her lower lip, she closed her eyes and composed herself. “Father, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Gabriel paused from what he was doing and then looked at her in a query. “Well? I’m waiting to hear it.”

“Yesterday, there was this… raven from my work,” she began. “And uh… today, I saw it again. I’m sure it’s not a normal bird at all, it’s got four eyes and they’re bright red, and yesterday it tried to break the office window to get me, but today it just… observed me, and then left me alone. I-I don’t know why it did that, it’s weird, I know, but...” She shrugged. “I thought you should… know about it.”

“A raven… a demon sent it, maybe…? Who among them will have a raven as their animal...” Gabriel contemplated the new information and then flipped over the book. He cursed under his breath and then took a new book from the shelf, poring over the pages as well, his brows furrowed the entire time as he mouthed a handful of pages to himself, looking for anything relevant of what was going on as he moved on from one book to another. Aira only observed him, confused.

“What are you looking for, father?” she asked. “Maybe I can help you look for it?”

“It’s fine,” he replied, he sighed in resignation and then closed the book in hand and placed it on one side. “Tell me, does the mark hurt?”

“N-No, not at all. I actually didn’t feel anything when the mark grew bigger, so...”

“Not even for the slightest?”

Aira shook her head, Gabriel’s shoulders relaxed as he let out a soft huff. “Good, though I suggest you still keep yourself away from danger when you can.” He handed her his rosary, “just keep it for the time being until my friend comes over. When a demon or an angel threatens you,” he demonstrated around her wrists, “wrap this thing around their neck,” he glanced at her and then slowly tightened the rosary around them, “and then tighten your grip before pulling the rosary towards you until they pass out.”

Distracted by the demonstration, when she finally pulled herself together, she quickly pulled her hands away, awkwardly looking down as she grabbed the rosary. “Thanks, father. I…” she slowly walked backward, “thanks for this, I think I need to go, I’ll… uh… talk to you when something comes up?”

“Aira.”

The woman paused walking and looked at the priest expectantly. Gabriel spoke up, “take care, will you? As long as we don’t know who’s after you, it’s too dangerous.”

Aira smiled at the priest, reserved with it. “I think I’ll be fine. The apartment you lent me’s close to the church, so I’m sure if there’s anything that’s out of the norm, you’ll immediately be there.”

Gabriel paused and stared at her before turning away, his jaw tightened as he took a deep breath. “Can’t say that I won’t do my best to protect you, but it’s not wise to trust me too much, I might not be able to save you at some point, and then your blood’s going to be on me.”

Aira bit the inside of her lower lip, wanting to say something, but opted to keep it to herself, instead she simply nodded quietly and then walked away to finally start going back to the apartment she’s currently staying in.

* * *

“_Boss wants me to let you know that she wants you to do some touch-ups to the designs. Especially for the armors, I don’t know why, but she said that she wants something ‘simpler’._”

“Last week, she told me she wanted something grander, and now she wants to tone it down, can she actually decide?” Aira grumbled, lying down on the bed with a thud. She just finished taking her nightly bath when Derek called her to tell her the decision about the designs. He was the only one willing to stay in the office to listen to their boss's blabber about almost anything before telling them her thoughts about their work. “I’ll work on them, I suppose. What are the armors she wants me to redesign, though? Did she tell you anything?”

“_The druids and the priests. She said that priests are supposed to be less inclined about all the worldly affairs so they have to look the part and not cluttered with grandiose among other things I forgot because she talked about her dog for hours. Again._”

“Thanks, I think I get where she’s coming from.” Aira finally got up to check the designs through her company-designated drawing tablet. “Still, I wish she said something before I started working on them. She always does this… this is why we always rush everytime the deadline’s near.”

“_Let’s hope after this project, she’ll start caring about those under her wing more._”

Aira scoffed. “We’ve always wished for it to happen, and it never does.”

“_I like being optimistic… sometimes._” Derek hummed on the other line, “_that’s all I called for. Take care, okay? I’ll leave you to work on what our boss said, but try not to stay up late, will you?_”

Bidding their goodbyes, Aira tossed her phone aside on the mattress. She opened a file in the tablet and studied the design, picking off what she wanted to retain and the parts that had to go. She scratched her short hair, gripping the pen in another hand as she bit her lower lip while contemplating a new design. _Priest class…_ _What if I just…_

It’s a stupid idea, but it could work at giving her ideas on armors. _ Imagine Father Gabriel wearing the armors_. _ He is a priest… _

Well, the problem was, she doesn’t know him on a personal level to _ know _ what he’ll want to wear, but all she needed to draw was to imagine if it will merely fit the priest or not. Having someone that she can think of who is already that kind of character will immensely steer her in the right direction. _ I hope. _

It did get her to start drawing as soon as possible, though, and that’s what’s more important at the moment: that is to put out _ something _ before the next day comes. She can always clean everything up in the workroom tomorrow. Bare concepts, and then she can sleep comfortably.

Aira also looked around the room, eyeing the trinkets and statues with funny shapes and symmetrical symbols, opening a new canvas to be able to draw the things she found interesting enough and that she can incorporate. Now that she was finally taking a look at the room, there are many religious artifacts and imagery in the room: Different types of rosaries, there's a cross in the room, a handful of statues along with what she recognized to be related to Egyptian mythology. All of them helped her give her ideas on what the priest will wear, which in turn got her to design the armors she needed for her job. 

The simple sketches turned deeper, and the night grew darker and darker. Aira barely noticed it until her eyes were closed, and soon, sleep took over her, letting her get her well-deserved rest after a long day.

* * *

_ She was back in the deep forest again, her legs are about to give out from running for hours and hours on end, and yet in her head, she knows she shouldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop, lest the creature will catch up to her, but the forest is massive with its overgrown trees and mossy pathways, she’s exhausted, and she can’t deny it any longer. The wind rustled the leaves in the dark night, an ominous blow that sent shivers down her spine that she couldn’t breathe. The leaves rustled once again, and Aira took it as a signal to keep running again. _

_ But all that effort of her running away was of no use: it caught up to her, as it always does. She was pinned to the ground that her head hit the overgrown root jutting out of the ground, unable to scream, nor breathe as a clawed hand blocked the airways on her neck. Aira’s eyes met with the hallowed ones of the wraith. With a screech, it raised its other claw at her, and without a sound coming from her, powerless, she can’t do anything but brace herself from the incoming slaughter. _

Aira jumped out of the bed, huffing. She looked around the bedroom where she is right now. _ No… No trees… just a bedroom of somebody else’s apartment… right… _ her head’s finally starting to make sense, starting with reminding her how she got in that room in the first place.

Panting, she brushed her hair back with her hand, looking around: the tablet’s on the bed, and the pen’s caught between the sheets. Shaking her head, she took them and placed them on the nightstand table. She went to the bathroom and washed her face, splashing water especially towards her eyes to get her body to wake up and start a new day. As her eyes met her reflection on the mirror, she checked her neck and chest: no markings, unlike the previous nights she had that nightmare. Perhaps the room is indeed magically warded, but still, the recurrence of the dream is something that she can’t shake off any longer. There is something about it, and she doesn’t like what it can mean.

_ Father Gabriel has to know… I have no choice. _


	7. Chapter 7

Aira promised that she’ll tell the priest about the recurring dream, and she wanted to do it because it’s the logical thing to do and he might be the only one that can help him find the answers. Gabriel must have dropped by in the early morning since there were clothes already prepared for her for today, making the process of getting ready for today much easier and she managed to head out fast and get on to commute. But when she was inside the bus, she hesitated to tell the driver to drop her off at the church. Still, she was on her guard, looking around at her surroundings and checking if there’s a non-human entity among the commuters.

_ So far, so good. _Even those that got in the bus recently were all human, and there were no angels nor demons on sight, not even spectres or wisps. Her shoulders relaxed as she let out a sigh of relief. She plugged her earphones on and played music through her phone, intending to get a short nap while she’s still in the bus, but before she closed her eyes, in a split second, something moved from her peripheral vision. She turned her head as fast as she could to look behind her, and then to the window, and then to what was in front of her, holding her breath, but she saw nothing out of the norm after looking for it for 3 tries. Slowly, yet shaking, she got back to her seat, letting loose of her grip on the backrest of the seat in front of her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She made up her mind.

_ Yeah… I’m dropping off at church. _

* * *

The mass finished only a few minutes ago and as per tradition, Gabriel saw the churchgoers off, making small talks to some of them who approached him to greet him and ask for a small blessing, keeping the gentle smile on his face as he bid goodbye to them. The sun was out and shining brightly down the ground, the vestment provided little area to be able to cool down. It was a particularly hot day than usual, and Gabriel will have to take another cold shower before slipping on his regular cassock.

Overseeing the last of the religious left the old building, Gabriel headed back inside to be able to go back to his room to get changed, adjusting the chasuble to loosen around his neck.

“Father Gabriel?”

The priest stopped and turned around, finding Aira standing a few steps inside the church staring at him, goggle-eyed. Enthused at what she was doing at this time of the hour, Gabriel approached her, seeing as she’s still unmovable from where she’s standing.

“Aira?"

His voice brought her out of her trance, a blush crept her cheeks as she looked at Gabriel up and down. She pointed at his outfit. “You’re… um… not wearing your usual.”

“When there’s a mass, yes I wear these vestments, and it ended just now so I haven’t changed yet.”

“It looks… um…”

“Weird on me?”

Aira nervously chuckled. “W-Well, I usually see you in your black fit so it’s… yeah, it looks weird…”

He smirked. “You’re not the first person to tell me that.” He glanced at her inquisitively, “you’re here at this early hour, though. Do you need anything?”

She blinked rapidly, slightly pulling away from the priest before she shut her eyes and held her breath. Her eyes met his, and just like that, she was tongue-tied, unable to think of what to tell him. Gabriel’s still looking at her, waiting for her to speak up once again with anticipation. Aira’s about to explode anytime soon if she won’t say something.

“I-It’s nothing,” Aira finally managed to say. “I was… hoping that you’ll… uh… bless me on my way to work. Yeah, um...” She scratched her nape and put her other hand in her jacket’s pocket, looking down. Her feet a few inches away from each other. She spoke in a soft voice, almost impossible to hear, “that would um… that would really help with… me getting by for today.”

Gabriel squinted. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Y-Yeah! That’s all I’m here for, honestly, then I’ll be on my way to work.” She forced a smile. “I will barely have the time to visit the church again since the deadline for work’s coming soon, and… maybe there’s a divine spirit of creativity that will help me deal with crunch time so I don’t have to get too stressed out when thinking of a new design for whatever work my boss will put me.”

“Hmm… I’m not sure how heaven will guide you to what you’re asking, but it’s simple enough and it doesn’t take a lot of time… I want to be out of this uniform as soon as I can.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder and closed her eyes. Aira, though startled, did the same. Gabriel murmured a soft prayer under his lips. A wave of relief hit her as the prayer went on. When the priest was done, Aira slowly opened her eyes, smiling up at him, slightly dazed. She clung to Gabriel’s arms for a few seconds to steady herself and then let go. “Thanks. I’ll be on my way.”

“Aira, just tell me if something happens.” He put his arms behind him as Aira stopped walking. There was a short pause, checking if there is something that the girl will tell him before he went on. “Part of my job is to keep people safe from divine or demonic attacks. My phone’s always within reach, so don’t hesitate to give me a call. I know I have reminded you of that multiple times but… just making sure you don’t forget.”

Aira slowly nodded as his words settled in her head before turning away to leave the church, her thumbs twiddling inside the front pockets of her jacket that she stashed them in when she was walking away. A soft, heavy sigh escaped her lips and then glanced in the direction of the old building one more time before she hopped in a bus. Her shoulders are still stiff as she gave every person a second glance in the car every now and then. With nothing out of the ordinary happening, she rested her back against her seat and then took a deep breath and then looked out of the window, glancing at the direction of the church with a frown, her hands curled up into fists. 

“Stupid...” she mumbled to herself through the gritted teeth before she sighed heavily. What’s done is done, she can’t go back to the church for now. She pulled out the priest’s rosary from her pocket and held it tightly in her hand, balling it up in her palm until it won’t fit, and at that moment, even if she thought she didn't wholly believe in Him, she prayed quietly in her seat that He would keep her safe.

* * *

Aira arrived to work without a fuss nor a stalker on sight. With relief, she went to her table and rested her back against her seat for a good minute with a sigh of relief and read the work emails, most especially her boss’ email listing down commentaries on her designs that she had to go over or redo before she had to draw and worked on them as soon as she opened the app. “At least those weren’t a lot of changes,” she mumbled to herself while starting out to edit one of the armors. _ Just a few more changes and they’ll be up for final design approval… thank God. _ Aira smiled at the thought. _ And thank you, Father and your friend, at least I got something out of staying in somebody else’s house. _

“Aira, there’s a delivery guy looking for you.”

She looked up from her work and stared in surprise and confusion. “What?”

“There’s a guy downstairs looking for you holding a package. He said he’s looking for you. Did you get something?”

Aira tensed visibly, her throat tightened as it went dry. “I… didn’t? I don’t remember ordering something online since last week. And I don’t use the work address to get something delivered to me.”

“Oh, must be the boss’ doing…” The woman shrugged. “Anyway, the guy insisted that he’ll wait for you, instead of just letting you pick it up from the front desk. Maybe she assigned you to receive the delivery for today?”

“Um… r-right… I’ll uh...” She got up, her knees about to give out but she steadied herself while using her chair to keep her upright. “I’ll check it out. Thanks for telling me.”

Her coworker grabbed her wrist, gently looking at her. She leaned closer and whispered softly, “hey… listen… I can accompany you downstairs, if this is a serious issue, we can find out where that guy works and report him to the authorities…”

“W-What, no! I don’t have… it’s not that...” She tried to brush her worries off by chuckling, but it came out nervously that her coworker eyed her. “It’s not that, but thanks for your concern.”

“Want me to come with you?”

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

Aira’s coworker stared at her, soon, she let go, sighing quietly. “If you’re sure...”

“Yeah, definitely. Thanks for the offer.” Aira flashed her a gentle and reassuring smile. Her coworker eyed her for a short minute before she relented and went to her table. Aira let out a heavy sigh and curled her fists as she shut her eyes tightly, mustering the courage to head downstairs and meet the delivery boy that was apparently insisting to meet her. 

Arriving on the first floor of the building, there was nobody there save for the usual people on the front desk. “Hey, excuse me, um...” Aira turned her head from side to side to make sure she didn’t miss anyone on the floor as she approached the desk. “Where’s the delivery guy?”

The lady at the front desk glanced to the left of the building, “he just went to the bathroom, but he left the package meant for you. Would you like to take it now?”

“Yeah, sure.” Aira flashed a polite smile when she was handed the box. “Thanks.”

Aira gently shook the box to draw something of what was inside by the sound of it. From what she can tell, it might be something hard. How important was this that she’ll personally receive this instead of delivering it all the way to her table? _ I swear if Derek sent me another stuff because he’s concerned for my health… _

All of her initial thoughts were thrown out of the window as she yelped and threw the package away from her. Aira’s heart beat faster and faster that her breathing can’t keep up: short, heavy pants came out of her mouth. Her knees grew weak with every second passing as the front desk ladies tried to assist her immediately and called the security in to look for the delivery boy. The beak of the dead raven on the floor with its rib cavities open was looking at her, an ominous feeling sunk in the pit of her stomach, spreading throughout her entire body. A stinging sensation upon her skin startled her, and when she looked at her left wrist, what once were indecipherable lines became a complete symbol of something that she’s not sure of what it means, nor will she like what it stands for.

“Ms. Darkholm, are you alright? Do you want us to call the police?” a concerned front desk lady asked, still squeezing Aira’s arms that helped her get back to her senses. “I can contact someone from your department and tell them what happened here.”

“D-Don’t… Don’t call the police… please?”

“A-Alright, but we have to tell your department what happened here. Is there anyone that we can call for you? Someone to accompany you home?”

“I’ll be fine,” Aira quickly replied, waving her hand in dismissal. She tried to get up, but her knees almost gave out on her. The dead crow’s beak still pointed at her, and it’s unsettling her to no end. “I’ll… I’ll just… get my stuff from my floor and then leave.”

“Are you sure you don’t want anyone to help you out─”

“I said I’m fine!” Aira bit her lip and sighed heavily and shot a pleading look at the front desk lady. “Please, just… just leave me be. I’ll be fine, it’s not my first time this has happened.”

_ That probably didn’t do anything to actually stop them from getting worried, _ but it got them to stop asking her questions. The lady looked down and nodded in understanding, grabbing her logbook.

“I’ll um… I’ll look at the security cameras and the logbook data to see if there’s something that we can do to find the delivery guy.”

“Y-Yeah, thanks.” With an awkward bow of acknowledgment, Aira turned and headed to the elevator, she waited for a few seconds before she headed inside and pressed a button to the designated floor and shoved her hands into her jacket pockets, head hung low. 

“And Ms. Darkholm?”

She looked up and into the lady as the elevator doors closed, but she wasn’t able to catch on to anything. The sound that she can hear turned into static until it died down into silence as the last sound that only came out to be comprehensible is the elevator ding before it started moving, leaving her alone with her thoughts, or the lack thereof. The silence in the elevator proved to be deafening and lulling her mind. Perhaps it was her mind’s last-ditch attempt to keep her functioning for the rest of the day as she reached her table to pack up and get ready to go home from work.

* * *

Derek gave Aira a scolding for not telling him anything if there was something bothering her as the word spread fast in the office after she talked to the lead designer to let her go home. She wasn’t sure who’d tell the others fast, but she didn’t further inquire as to who did it. She can think about it after today’s over. For now, she’d want to get some rest and figure out what the hell’s going on with her mark and the raven.

“Do you want me to help you get home?”

“Derek, I’m fine,” Aira insisted with a hint of annoyance as she frowned at the man in front of her. “Stop fussing over me, I’ll be alright. It’s just… well...”

“Can’t help it!” Dennis replied defensively, “someone played a nasty prank on you! Just wanna make sure you’ll make it home safely, you know.”

“Derek, nobody’s going to attempt to attack someone in the middle of a busy afternoon.”

“Nothing wrong with being too careful.”

Aira guiltily looked away from him and took a deep breath, fists curling up. “I’ll be fine, I promise. You don’t have to worry, I’ll still go to work… tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to, just tell me if you made it home safely, alright?”

After a couple of assurances and being vocal about the irritation towards the fussiness, Derek finally let Aira go home alone, waving goodbye at her as he watched her leave until he can’t see her anymore from the crowd of strangers going their own ways for their days. Aira kept her head low, never meeting anyone eye-to-eye but still being mindful of where she’ll head to. She put on her earphones to drown the noises, whether from the city or from the other reality that she can see. It was a good thing that she got out during this time; everybody’s hurrying to go somewhere down the busy street, nobody's paying attention to her, nor could they pay attention to her since the human traffic’s too high that it’s hard to follow someone like a needle in a haystack.

Still, that didn’t ease Aira’s tension and the thought hanging on her head that something’s _ off _ . It’s as if that someone… or _ something _ is still capable of singling her out from the sea of people.

Occasionally, she’d look behind to check if there was a familiar figure following her; someone that she saw to be walking the same way she is going, someone that’s been wearing the same thing since she left the company building and she has crossed paths multiple times, a face she knew she’s familiar with as she’s seen them everytime she gets out of the office. Any telltale signs of her being followed were not there, and yet, she still can’t shake the feeling off. She took a few detours and a little walk around the city to relieve herself of the watchful eye trailing her, and yet it still remained no matter where she went.

The mark on her wrist let out a searing pain chronically as she walked. _ That’s not good… _ She curled her marked hand and walked faster than the rest of the people she passed by.

And then there was it: a swift shift in the wind, a soft growl in the air, and the impending sense of doom befalling her. Aira was almost afraid to look up. _ Almost _. But despite knowing that it was a bad idea, she did so, and lo and behold, a drooling, wide-mouthed demon with hollow eyes and four arms with a wide set of batlike wings hang on the wall of the building, its claws dug into the concrete, growling under its breath as it tilted its head towards Aira’s direction. 

She ran for her life.

She shoved the people away from her, its large wings flapping was an indicator that it was, indeed, after her. Aira couldn’t even apologize at the people she pushed and bumped to get away, despite some of them yelling at her for running without watching where she was going. They didn’t know, people who weren’t cursed with the psychic eye never did, because if they did, they’d make way for her so she can run away.

She passed through a series of alleys to lure it away from her and confuse the creature where she was going. For a moment, as she hid behind a dumpster. The demon ‘looked around’ in search of her (or did so without any eyes present in its body) before flying away. Aira peeked from the side, but in a second, the demon screeched and pinned her against the wall by the neck, its gaping mouth salivating already. 

A drop of the red-hued liquid dripped onto the ground, creating an acidic reaction on the surface. Aira struggled, her heartbeat elevated as she kicked and tried to tear the demon’s hand off of her, but it only tightened around her throat that no air would get in or out of her, not even a sound. She pulled herself away from the tongue as much as she can with her back against the wall. _ Please, don’t let me die, please, don’t let me die, please, don’t let me die─ _

A loud bang rang in her ears. Looking at the demon once again, it fell onto the ground on its side, effectively letting go of her as well as the demon slowly turned into a pile of ashes before it burned as well into nothingness. She fell onto the ground, and Aira coughed and inhaled sharply to keep her lungs working. There was air entering her system again, the colors coming back on her neck and fingertips. The smell of sulfur and metal reaching to her nostrils. When she looked up, Father Gabriel was standing at the alleyway, one hand holding the freshly-fired shotgun to where the demon fell. 

Aira looked away from him, she staggered as she tried to get up on her feet. “T-Thanks… I thought I was going to─”

Gabriel grabbed Aira by her arm and pushed her against the wall. He glared at the woman intensely, it could burn a hole in her head. His hand was already making a mark at how tight he was holding her. “What in the world did I tell you?! I told you to tell me if there’s something wrong, didn’t I?!”

“Because I thought that it was nothing!” Aira immediately replied back defensively, “I thought that it shouldn’t be a big deal, and I don’t want to ultimately make you worry for nothing!”

“I would have preferred that than getting into this s─… this situation you put us through. At least I could have come prepared!”

“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to, and you don’t have to worry too much, will you? I’ve been dealing with this for years, they just became aggressive than before but I’ll be fine─”

“No, you don’t understand.” Gabriel’s jaw tightened, he shut his eyes for a second as his fists curled. He exhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose and then sighed heavily as he retreated his hand that was holding her, “I told you indirectly that I want to protect you, and I can’t fail, because I don’t know how I’ll be able to take it this time if I fail to protect somebody again after giving them my word.”

Behind those words encompassed something so intense that Aira hasn’t seen from him so far: fear? hopelessness? nostalgic regret? Gabriel’s expression was unreadable that it was difficult to figure out what he was feeling. Though, Aira had less time to ponder about it when her guilt was about to eat her alive. _ Priests are good at guilt-tripping sometimes. _“... I’m sorry...” she mumbled. “I was going to tell you back in the church but… I don’t know, I chickened out. I suddenly couldn't do it. I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” 

“Hey, can you stop trying to guilt-trip me further? I almost died!”

“I’m aware! I’ve seen how you were almost killed if I didn’t decide to follow you today!” Gabriel retorted, scowling at the woman in front of him who did the same thing towards him. Finally, Gabriel looked away. “... This isn’t getting us anywhere. Come on, we’re running out of time. Whatever the reason may be, you’re not gonna have until morning if we stay.” As gently as he can, he spoke, “let’s go, we’re going to make sure you’ll live before we figure out the bottom of this.”

Gabriel grabbed Aira’s wrist and walked out of the alley, the priest holding her tightly and close to her. He was not going to fail this time, and this time, Aira will see the morning come.


End file.
